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Auction Bridge 


Up-to-Date 


By W. DALTON 

AUTHOR OF 

-BRIDGE ABRIDGED." "BRIDGE AT A GLANCE." ETC 


CONTAINING THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE , AS 
FRAMED BY A JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE 
PORTLAND AND BATH CLUBS , AND APPROVED 
AND ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE 
PORTLAND CLUB. 


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NEW YORK: 

WYCIL Sc CO. 


1910 










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CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE v 

LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE i 

INTRODUCTION 35 

CHAPTER I. 

Description of the Game 51 

CHAPTER II. 

The Declaration 59 

CHAPTER III. 

The Dealer 69 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Second Player 89 

CHAPTER V. 

The Third Player 105 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Fourth Player 119 

CHAPTER VII. 

The General Declaration 127 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 


The Personal Element ... 150 

CHAPTER IX. 

Doubling ... 165 

CHAPTER X. 

The Opening Lead 180 

CHAPTER XI. 

TUe Play of the Declarer 193 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Play of the Opposition 199 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Maxims in Brief 206 



PREFACE 


This work was originally intended to appear as a 
second edition of “ Auction Bridge,” published in 
1908; but, on going over that book for revision, 
I found it necessary to alter it so very materially, 
that it has been determined to publish a new 
book on the game, under the present title. A 
certain amount of the old book remains, but the 
chapters dealing with the declaration have been 
re-written entirely, and the principles of declaring 
now advocated are very different from, and in 
some cases diametrically opposed to, those recom- 
mended in my first book. 

I make no apology for this change of front, 
because it is none of my doing. The change has 
been brought about, almost entirely, by the new 
Law limiting the loss on a declaration of “ One 
Spade” to 100 points. As long as the loss was 
unlimited, the best players adopted a certain line 
of play, which was fully described in my first book. 
On page 67 of “Auction Bridge” I said: “The 
new rule has not become law at the time of 
writing, so I can say nothing as to the operation 
of it.” It has since become law, and I can now 
speak as to the operation of it. It has transformed 
the methods of declaring rudimentally. The 
methods which were in vogue eighteen months 
ago are now out of date, and the new methods 
will be found fully described in the following 
pages. 


W. DALTON. 





LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 





















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THE LAWS 

OF 

AUCTION BRIDGE 


Framed by a Joint Committee of the 
Portland and Bath Clubs, and approved and adopted 
by the Committee of the Portland Club (1909). 


THE RUBBER. 

1. The rubber is the best of three games. If 
the first two games be won by the same players, 
the third game is not played. 

SCORING. 

2. A game consists of thirty points obtained by 
tricks alone, exclusive of any points counted for 
Honours, Chicane, Slam, Bonus, or Under-tricks. 

3. Every hand is played out, and any points 
in excess of the thirty points necessary for the 
game are counted. 

4. When the declarer ( vide Law 50) makes 
good his declaration by winning at least as many 


B 


2 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


tricks as he declared to win, each trick above 6 
counts : — 

2 points when. Spades are trumps. 

4* „ „ Clubs „ 

6 „ „ Diamonds „ 

8 „ „ Hearts „ 

12 „ „ there are no trumps. 

These values become respectively 4, 8, 12, 16, 
and 24 when the declaration has been doubled; 
and 8, 16, 24, 32, and 48 when the declaration 
has been re-doubled ( vide Law 56). 

5. Honours consist of ace, king, queen, knave, 
and ten of the trump suit. When there are no 
trumps they consist of the four aces. 

6. Honours in trump suits are thus reckoned : — 
If a player and his partner conjointly hold — 

I. The five honours of the trump suit, they 
score for honours five times the value of 
the trump suit trick. 

II. Any four honours of the trump suit, they 
score for honours four times the value of 
the trump suit trick. 

III. Any three honours of the trump suit, they 
score for honours twice the value of the 
trump suit trick. 


THE TAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 3 

If a player in his own hand holds — 

I. The five honours of the trump suit, he and 
his partner score for honours ten times 
the value of the trump suit trick. 

II. Any four honours of the trump suit, he and 
his partner score for honours eight times 
the value of the trump suit trick ; and 
if his partner holds the fifth honour, nine 
times the value of the, trump suit trick. 

The value of the trump suit trick referred to 
in this law is its original value — e.g., two points 
in spades and six points in diamonds; and the 
value of honours is in no way affected by any 
doubling or re-doubling. 

7. Honours, when there are no trumps, are 
thus reckoned : — 

If a player and his partner conjointly hold — 

I. The four aces, they score for honours 
forty points. 

II. Any three aces, they score for honours 
thirty points. 

If a player in his own hand holds — - 

The four aces, he and his partner score for 
honours one hundred points. 

These values are in no way affected by doubling 
or re-doubling. 


B 2 


4 THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 

8. Chicane is thus reckoned : — 

If a player holds no trump, he and his 
partner score for Chicane twice the 
value of the trump suit trick. The 
value of Chicane is in no way affected 
by any doubling or re-doubling. 

9. Slam is thus reckoned : — 

If a player and his partner make, independently 

of any tricks taken for the revoke penalty — 

I. All thirteen tricks, they score for Grand 
Slam forty points. 

II. Twelve tricks, they score for Little Slam 
twenty points. 

10. Honours, Chicane, Slam, Bonus, and points 
for JJnder-tricks are reckoned in the score at the 
end of the rubber. 

11. At, the end of the rubber, the tofal scores 
for Tricks, Honours, Chicane, Slam, Bonus, and 
Under-t ricks obtained by each player and his 
partner are added up, two hundred and fifty points 
are added to the score of the winners of the 
rubber, and the difference between the two scores 
is the ' number of points won, or lost, by^ the 
winners of the rubber. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 5 

1 2 . If an erroneous score affecting Tricks, Bonus, 
or Under-tricks be proved, such mistake may be 
corrected prior to the conclusion of the game in 
which it occurred, and such game is not con- 
cluded until the last card of the following deal 
has been dealt, or, in the case of the last game 
of the rubber, until the score has been made up 
and agreed. 

13. If an erroneous score affecting Honours, 
Chicane, and Slam be proved, such mistake may 
be corrected at any time before the score of the 
rubber has been made up and agreed 

CUTTING. 

14. The ace is the lowest card. 

15. In all cases, every player must cut from 
the same pack. 

16. Should a player expose more than one card, 
he must cut again. 

FORMATION OF TABLE. 

17. If there are more than four candidates, 
the players are selected by cutting, the first six in 
the room having the right of belonging to the 
table, which is complete with six players. The 
candidates who cut the next lowest cards have a 
prior right to any after-comer to enter the table. 


6 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


1 8. The four who cut the lowest cards play the 
first rubber ; they cut for partners, and the two 
lowest play against the two highest. The lowest 
is the dealer, and he has choice of cards and seats, 
and, having once made his selection, must abide 
by it. 

19. Two players cutting cards of equal value, 
unless such cards are the two highest, cut again; 

hould they be the two lowest, a fresh cut is 
necessary to decide which of those two deals. 

20. Three players cutting cards of equal value 
cut again ; should the fourth (or remaining) card 
be the highest, the two lowest of the new cut are 
partners, the lower of those two the dealer ; should 
the fourth card be the lowest, the two highest are 
partners, the original lowest the dealer. 


CUTTING OUT. 

21. At the end of a rubber, should admission 
be claimed by one, or two candidates, the 
player who has, or the players who have, played 
a greater number of consecutive rubbers than the 
others is, or are, out ; but when all have played 
the same number, they must cut to decide upon 
the out-goers; the highest are out. * 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


7 


ENTRY AND RE-ENTRY. 

22. A candidate, whether he has played or not, 
can join a table which is not complete by declaring 
in at any time prior to any of the players having 
cut a card, either for the purpose of commencing 
a fresh rubber or of cutting out. 

23. In the formation of fresh tables, the can- 
didates who have neither belonged to nor played at 
any other table have the prior right of entry ; the 
others decide their right of admission by cutting. 

24. Any one quitting a table prior to the con- 
clusion of a rubber may, with consent of the 
other three players, appoint a substitute in his 
absence during that rubber 

25. A player joining one table, whilst belonging 
to another, loses his right of re-entry into the 
latter, and takes his chance of cutting in, as if 
he were a fresh candidate. 

26. If any one break up a table, the remaining 
players have the prior right to him of entry into 
any other; and should there not be sufficient 
vacancies at such other table to admit all 
those candidates, they settle their precedence by 
cutting. 


8 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE, 


SHUFFLING. 

27. The pack must neither be shuffled below 
the table nor so that the face of any card can 
be seen. 

28. The pack must not be shuffled during the 
play of the hand. 

29. A pack, having been played with, must 
neither be shuffled by dealing it into packets, 
nor across the table. 

30. Each player has a right to shuffle once 
only (except as provided by Law 33) prior to a 
deal, after a false cut, or when a new deal has 
occurred. 

31. The dealer’s partner must collect the cards 
for the ensuing deal, and has the first right to 
shuffle that pack. 

32. Each player, after shuffling, must place 
the cards, properly collected and face down- 
wards, to the left of the player about to deal. 

33. The dealer has always the right to shuffle 
last; but should a card or cards be seen during 
his shuffling, or whilst giving the pack to be cut, 
he may be compelled to re-shuffle. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


9 


THE DEAL. 

34. Each player deals in his turn ; the order 
of dealing goes to the left. 

35. The player on the dealer’s right cuts the 
pack, and, in dividing it, must not leave fewer 
than four cards in either packet ; if in cutting, 
or in replacing one of the two packets on the 
other, a card be exposed, or if there be any 
confusion of the cards or a doubt as to the 
exact place in which the pack was divided, there 
must be a fresh cut. 

36. When a player, whose duty it is to cut, has 
once separated the pack, he cannot alter his cut; 
moreover, he can neither re-shuffle nor re-cut the 
cards. 

37. After the pack has been cut, should the 
dealer shuffle the cards, the pack must be cut 
again. 

38. The fifty-two cards shall be dealt face down- 
wards. The deal is not completed until the last 
card has been dealt face downwards. There is 
no misdeal. 


IO 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


A NEW DEAL. 

39. There must be a new deal— 

I. If, during a deal, or during the play of a 
hand, the pack be proved to be incorrect 
or imperfect. 

II. If any card be faced in the pack. 

III. Unless the cards are dealt into four 

packets, one at a time and in regular 
rotation, beginning at the player to the 
dealer’s left. 

IV. Should the last card not come in its regular 

order to the dealer. 

V. Should a player have more than thirteen 
cards, and any one or more of the others 
less than thirteen cards. 

VI. Should the dealer deal two cards at once, 
or two cards to the same hand, and then 
deal a third ; but if, prior to dealing that 
card, the dealer can, by altering the posi- 
tion of one card only, rectify such error, 
he may do so. 

VII. Should the dealer omit to have the pack 
cut to him, and the adversaries discover 
the error prior to the last card being 
dealt, and before looking at their cards. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


II 


40. If, whilst dealing, a card be exposed by 
either of the dealer’s adversaries, the dealer or his 
partner may claim a new deal. A card similarly 
exposed by the dealer or his partner, gives the 
same claim to each adversary. The claim may 
not be ihade by a player who has, or whose 
partner has,, looked at any of his cards. If a 
new deal does not take place, the exposed card 
cannot be called. 

41. If however, in dealing, one of the last cards 
be exposed, and the dealer has completed the deal 
before there is reasonable time to decide as to a 
fresh deal, the privilege is not thereby lost. 

42. If the dealer, before he has dealt fifty-one 
cards, look at any card, his adversaries have a 
right to see it, and may exact a new deal. 

43. Should three players have their right number 
of cards, and the fourth have less than thirteen, 
and not discover such deficiency until he has 
played any of his cards, the deal stands good; 
should he have played, he is answerable for any 
revoke he may have made, as if the missing card, 
or cards, had been in his hand ; he may search 
the other pack for it, or them. 

44. If a pack, during or after a rubber, be 
proved incorrect or imperfect, such proof does 
not alter any past score, game, or rubber ; that 
hand in which the imperfection was detected is 
null and void, and the dealer must deal again. 


12 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION ERIDGE. 


45. Any one dealing out of turn* or with the 
adversaries’ cards, may be stopped before the 
last card is dealt, otherwise the deal stands good, 
and the game must proceed as if no mistake has 
been made. 

46. A player can neither shuffle, cut, nor deal 
for his partner without the permission of his 
opponents. 


DECLARING TRUMPS. 

47. The dealer having examined his hand, 
must declare to win at least the odd trick, but 
he may declare to win more. He must declare 
whether the hand shall be played with or without 
trumps; in the former case, he must name which 
suit shall be trumps. The lowest declaration he 
can make is “One Spade” — /.<?., he declares to win 
at least one odd trick, spades being trumps. 

48. After the dealer has made his declara- 
tion, each player in turn, commencing with the 
player on the dealer’s left, has the right to 
make a higher declaration, or to double the last 
declaration made, or to re-double a declaration 
which has been doubled, subject to the provisions 
of Law 56, or to pass the last declaration. A 
declaration of a greater number of tricks in a 
suit of lower value, which equals the last de- 
claration in value of points, shall be considered 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 1 3 

a higher declaration— e.g., a declaration of “Two 
Spades” is a. higher declaration than “One Club,” 
and “Two Diamonds” is higher than “One No 
Trump.” 

49. A player in his turn may overbid the 
previous declaration any number of times, and 
may also overbid his partner, but he cannot 
overbid his own declaration which has been passed 
by the other three players. When the final declara- 
tion has been made — i.e., when the last declaration 
has been passed by the other three players — the 
player who made such declaration (or in the case 
where both partners have made declarations in the 
same suit, or of “No Trumps,” the player who 
made the first of such declarations) shall play the 
combined hands of himself and of his partner, the 
latter becoming Dummy. 

50. When the player of the two hands (herein- 
after termed “the declarer”) wins at least as many 
tricks as he declared to do, he scores the full value 
of the tricks won (see Laws 2 and 4). When he 
fails, his adversaries score fifty points for each 
under-trick — i.e., each trick short of the number 
declared ; or, if the declaration has been doubled, 
or re -doubled, one hundred or two hundred re 
spectively for each under-trick ; neither the declarer 
nor his adversaries score anything towards the 
game. 


14 the laws of auction bridge. 

51. The loss to the declarer on the declaration 
of “One Spade” shall be limited to one hundred 
points in respect of under-tricks, whether doubled 
or not, unless either he or his partner have re- 
doubled. 

52. If a player make a declaration (other than 
passing) out of turn, the adversary on his left 
may demand a new deal, or may allow the de- 
claration so made to stand, when the bidding shall 
continue as if the declaration had been in order. 

53. If a player, in bidding, fail to declare a 
sufficient number of tricks to overbid the previous 
declaration, he shall be considered to have de- 
clared the requisite number of tricks in the bid 
which he has made, provided that the number of 
tricks shall not exceed seven; and his partner shall 
be debarred from making any further declaration, 
unless either of his adversaries make a higher 
declaration or double. If, however, such insuffi- 
cient declaration be accepted by the next player 
passing it, or doubling it, or by making a higher 
declaration, no rectification can be made. 

54. After the final declaration has been made, 
a player is not entitled to give his partner any 
information as to a previous declaration, whether 
made by himself or by either adversary; but a 
player is entitled to inquire, at any time during 
the play of the hand, wnat was the final 
declaration. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


15 


DOUBLING AND RE-DOUBLING. 

55. The effect of doubling and re-doubling is 
that the value of each trick over six is doubled or 
quadrupled, as provided in Law 4 ; but it does not 
alter the value of a declaration— <?.£•., a declaration 
of “Two Clubs” is higher than “One Heart,” 
although the heart declaration has been doubled. 

56. Any declaration can be doubled and 
re-doubled once, but not more ; a player cannot 
double his partner’s declaration, or re-double his 
partner’s double, but he may re-double a declara- 
tion of his partner’s which has been doubled by 
his adversaries. 

57. The act of doubling, or re-doubling, re-opens 
the bidding. When a declaration has been doubled, 
or re-doubled, any player, including the player 
whose declaration has been doubled, or whose 
double has been re-doubled, can in his proper turn 
make a further declaration of higher value. 

58. When a player whose declaration has been 
doubled, makes good his declaration by winning at 
ieast the declared number of tricks, he scores a 
bonus which consists of 50 points for winning 
the number of tricks declared, and 50 points 
for each additional trick he may win. If he or his 
partner have re-doubled, the bonus is doubled. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


16 


59. If a player double out of turn, the adver- 
sary on his left may demand a new deal. 

60. When the final declaration has been made 
(see Law 49), the play shall begin, and the player 
on the left of the declarer shall lead. 

61. A declaration once made cannot be altered, 
except as provided by Law 53. 

'DUMMY. 

62. As soon as a card is led by the eldest hand, 
i.e.j the player on the left of the declarer, 
the declarer’s partner shall place his cards face 
upwards on the table, and the duty of playing 
the cards from that hand, which is called Dummy, 
and of claiming and enforcing any penalties arising 
during the hand, shall devolve upon the declarer, 
unassisted by his partner. 

63. Before placing his card's upon the table, 
the declarer’s partner has all the rights of a player, 
but after so doing shall take no part whatever in 
the play, except that he has the right : — 

(a) To ask the declarer whether he has any 

of a suit which he may have renounced ; 

(b) To call the declarer’s attention to the 

fact that too many or too few cards 
have been played to a trick ; 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 1 7 

(c) To correct the claim of either adversary 

to a penalty to which the latter is not 

entitled ; 

(d) To call attention to the fact that a trick 

has been wrongly gathered by either side ; 

(e) To participate in the discussion of any 

disputed question of fact, or of law ; 

(/) To correct an erroneous score. 

If he call attention to any other incident in the 
play of the hand, in respect of which any penalty 
might be exacted, the fact that he has done so 
shall deprive the declarer of the right of exacting 
such penalty against his adversaries 

64. If the declarer s partner, by touching a card, 
or otherwise, suggest the play of a card from 
Dummy, either of the adversaries may, but with- 
out consulting with his partner, call upon the 
declarer to play or not to play the card suggested. 

65. When the declarer draws a card, either from 
his own hand or from Dummy, such card is not 
considered as played until actually quitted. 

66. A card once played, or named by the declarer 
as to be played from his own hand or from Dummy, 
cannot be taken back, except to save a revoke. 

67. The declarer’s partner may not look over 
his adversaries’ hands, nor leave his seat for the 
purpose of watching his partner’s play. 

c 


1 8 THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


68. Dummy is not liable to any penalty for a 
revoke, as his adversaries see bis cards. Should 
he revoke, and the error not be discovered until 
the trick is turned and quitted, the trick stands 
good. 

69. The declarer is not liable to any penalty for 
an error whence he can gain no advantage. Thus, 
he may expose some, or all of his cards, without 
incurring any penalty. 

EXPOSED CARDS. 

70. If all the cards have been dealt, and before 
the final declaration has been made, any player 
expose a card from his hand, the adversary on 
his left may demand a new deal. If the deal be 
allowed to stand, the exposed card may be taken 
up and cannot be called. 

71. If, after the final declaration has been 
made, and before a card is led, the partner of 
the player who has to lead to the first trick 
exposes a card from his hand, the declarer may, 
instead of calling the card, require the leader not 
to }ead {he suit of the exposed card. 

CARDS LIABLE TO BE CALLED. 

72. All cards exposed by the declarer’s adver- 
saries are liable to be called, and must be left 
face upwards on the table ; but £ card is not an 
exposed card when dropped on the floor, or 
elsewhere below the table. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 19 

73. The following are exposed cards: — 

I. Two or more cards played at once. 

II. Any card dropped with its face upwards, 
or in any way exposed on or above 
the table, even though snatched up so 
quickly that no one can name it. 

74. If either of the declarer’s adversaries play 
to an imperfect trick the best card on the table, 
or lead one which is a winning card as against 
the declarer and his partner, and then lead again, 
without waiting for his partner to play, or play 
several such winning cards, one after the other, 
without waiting for his partner to play, the latter 
may be called on to win, if he can, the first or 
any other of those tricks, and the other cards 
thus improperly played are exposed cards. 

75. Should the declarer indicate that all or any 
of the remaining tricks are his, he may be re- 
quired to place his cards face upwards on the 
table; but they are not liable to be called. 

76. If either of the declarer’s adversaries throws 
his cards on the table face upwards, such cards 
are exposed, and liable to be called by the 
declarer. 

77. If all the players throw their cards on 
the table face upwards, the hands are abandoned, 
and the score must be left as claimed and 


c 2 


20 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


admitted. The hands may be examined for the 
purpose of establishing a revoke, but for no 
other purpose. 

78. A card detached from the rest of the hand 
of either of the declarer’s adversaries, so as to be 
named, is liable to be called ; but should the 
declarer name a wrong card, he is liable to have a 
suit called when first he or his partner have the 
lead. 

79. If a player, who has rendered himself liable 
to have the highest or lowest of a suit called, or 
to win or not to win a trick, fail to play as 
desired, though able to do so, or if when called 
on to lead one suit, lead another, having in his 
hand one or more cards of that suit demanded, 
he incurs the penalty of a revoke. 

80. If either ot the declarer’s adversaries lead out 
of turn, the declarer may call a suit from him or his 
partner when it is next the turn of either of them 
to lead, or may call the card erroneously led. 

81. If the declarer lead out of turn, either from 
his own hand or from Dummy, he incurs no 
penalty ; but he may not rectify the error after 
the second hand has played, unless called upon 
by either adversary to do so. 

82. If any player lead out of turn, and the 
other three have followed him, the trick is com- 
plete, and the error cannot be rectified; but if 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 21 

only the second, or the second and third, have 
played to the false lead, their cards, on discovery 
of the mistake, can be taken back ; and there is 
no penalty against any one, excepting the original 
offender, and then only when he is one of the 
declarer’s adversaries. 

83. In no case can a player be compelled to 
play a card which would oblige him to revoke. 

84. The call of a card may be repeated until 
such card has been played. 

85. If a player called on to lead a suit have 
none of it, the penalty is paid. 

CARDS PLAYED IN ERROR, OR NOT PLAYED 
TO A TRICK. 

86. Should the third hand not have played, 
and the fourth play before his partner, the latter 
(not being Dummy or his partner) may be called 
on to win, or not to win, the trick. 

87. If any one (not being Dummy) omit playing 
to a former trick, and such error be not discovered 
until he has played to the next, the adversaries 
may claim a new deal; should they decide that 
the deal stands good, or should Dummy have 
omitted to play to a former trick, and such error 


22 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


be not discovered till he shall have played to the 
next, the surplus card at the end of the hand is 
considered to have been played to the imperfect 
trick, but does not constitute a revoke therein. 

88. If any one play two cards to the same 
trick, or mix a card with a trick to which it 
does not properly belong, and the mistake be 
not discovered until the hand is played out, 
he (not being Dummy) is answerable for all con- 
sequent revokes he may have made. If, during 
the play of the hand, the error be detected, the 
tricks may be counted face downwards, in order 
to ascertain whether there be among them a card 
too many : should this be the case they may be 
searched, and the card restored ; the player (not 
being Dummy) is, however, liable for all revokes 
which he may have meanwhile made. 

THE REVOKE 

89. Is when a player (other than Dummy), 
holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays 
a card of a different suit. 

90. The penalty for each revoke shall be : — 

(a) When the declarer revokes, his adversaries 
shall score 150 points in addition to any 
penalty which he may have incurred for 
not making good his declaration. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION' ERIDGE. 




(/>) When either of the adversaries revoke, the 
declarer may score 150 points, or may 
take three tricks from his opponents and 
add them to his own. Such tricks taken 
as a penalty may assist the declarer to 
make good his declaration, but they shall 
not entitle him to score any bonus in 
the case of the declaration having been 
doubled or re-doubled. 

The penalty of 150 points is not affected by 
doubling or re-doubling. 

In no circumstances can partners score anything 
except for honours or Chicane on a hand in which 
one of them has revoked. 

91. A revoke is established, if the trick in which 
it occurs has been turned and quitted — -i.e. 9 the 
hand removed from that trick after it has been 
turned face downwards on the table — or if either 
the revoking player or his partner, whether in his 
right turn or otherwise, lead or play to the fol- 
lowing trick. 

92. A player may ask his partner whether he 
has not a card of the suit which he has renounced ; 
should the question be asked before the trick is 
turned and quitted, Subsequent turning and quit- 
ting does not establish the revoke, and the error 
may be corrected, unless the question be answered 
in the negative, or unless the revoking player or his 
partner have led or played to the following trick. 


24 THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 

93. At the end of the hand, the claimants of a 
revoke may search all the tricks. 

94. If a player discover his mistake in time to 
save a revoke, any player or players who have 
played after him may withdraw their cards and 
substitute others, and their cards withdrawn are 
not liable to be called. If the player in fault be 
one of the declarer’s adversaries, the declarer may 
call the card thus played in error, or may require 
him to play his highest or lowest card to that trick 
in which he has renounced. 

95. If the player in fault be the declarer, the* 
eldest hand may require him to play the highest 
or lowest card of the suit in which he has re- 
nounced, provided both of the declarer’s adver- 
saries have played to the current trick ; but this 
penalty cannot be exacted from the declarer 
when he is fourth in hand, nor can it be enforced 
at all from Dummy. 

96. After a revoke has been claimed, if the 
accused player or his partner mix the cards before 
they have been sufficiently examined by the adver- 
saries, the revoke is established. 

97. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards 
have been cut for the following deal. 

98. If a revoke occur, be claimed and proved, 
bets on the odd trick, or on the amount of the 
score, must be decided by the actual state of the 
score after the penalty is paid. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 25 

9Q. Should both sides subject themselves to the 
penalty for a revoke, neither side can score any- 
thing except for honours or Chicane ; should either 
or both sides revoke more than once, the side 
making the. fewest revokes scores 150 points for 
each extra revoke. 

CALLING FOR NEW CARDS. 

100. Any player (on paying for them) before, 
but not after, the pack be cut for the deal, may 
call for fresh cards. He must call for two new 
packs, of which the dealer takes his choice. 


GENERAL RULES. 

1 01. Any one during the play of a trick, or 
after the four cards are played, and before, but 
not after, they are touched for the purpose of 
gathering them together, may demand that the 
cards be placed before their respective players. 

102. If either of the declarer’s adversaries, prior 
to his partner playing, should call attention to 
the trick — either by saying that it is his, or by 
naming his card, or, without being required so to 
do, by drawing it towards him — the declarer may 
require that opponent’s partner to play his highest 
or lowest of the suit then led, or to win or not 
to win the trick. 


26 THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 

103. Should the partner of the player solely 
entitled to exact a penalty, suggest or demand the 
enforcement of it, no penalty can be enforced. 
Should any player claim a penalty to which he 
is not entitled, he loses his right to exact any 
penalty. 

104. In all cases where a penalty has been 
incurred, the offender is bound to give reasonable 
time for the decision of his adversaries. 

105; If a bystander make any remark which 
calls the attention of a player or players to an 
oversight affecting the score, he is liable to be 
called on, by the players only, to pay the stakes 
and all bets on that game or rubber. 

106. A bystander, by agreement among the 
players, may decide any question. 

107. A card of cards torn or marked must be 
either replaced by agreement, or new cards called 
at the expense of the table. 

108. Once a trick is complete, turned, and 
quitted, it must not be looked at (except under 
Law 88) until the end of the hand. 




THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


2 7 


THREE-HANDED AUCTION BRIDGE. 


The Laws are the same as those of Auction 
Bridge, except as varied by the following : — 

I. The game is played by three players, all 
against all ; the table being complete with four 
players. 

II. The player who cuts the lowest card has the 
first deal ; the player cutting the next lowest card 
sits on the dealer’s left, and the remaining player 
on the dealer’s right. The cards are dealt as at 
Auction Bridge, but the cards dealt to Dummy 
are not taken up until after the final declaration 
has been made. If whilst dealing a card be ex- 
posed, there must be a new deal. 

III. The dealer makes his declaration, and the 
bidding continues as at Auction Bridge, except 
that the players sitting opposite each other are 
not partners, and their declarations are on their 
own account. There shall be no new deal on ac- 
count of a player making a declaration out of turn, 
but the player so offending shall forfeit 50 points 
to each of the players, the right to declare remain- 
ing w'ith the player whose turn it was to make a 
declaration. The player making the final declara- 


28 THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 

tion (/.<?., the declaration that has been passed by 
.the other two players) plays his own hand and that 
of Dummy against the other two players, who then, 
and for that particular hand, become partners. If 
one of the players happens to be sitting opposite 
the declarer, he must move into the vacant seat at 
the table, thereby facing the player who becomes 
his partner for that hand. 

IV. If, after the deal has been completed, and 
before a card is led, any player expose a card from 
his hand, he shall forfeit ioo points to each of the 
other players ; and the declarer — if he be not the 
offender — may call upon the eldest hand not to 
lead from the suit of the exposed card. If he does 
not exercise this right, the card must be left on the 
table as an exposed card. If the card be exposed 
by the declarer, after the final declaration has been 
made, there is no penalty. 

V. If a player double out of turn, he forfeits 
ioo points to each of his adversaries, and the 
player whose declaration has been so doubled shall 
have the right to say whether or not the double 
shall stand. The bidding is then resumed ; but if 
the double has been disallowed, the said declara- 
tion cannot be. doubled by the player on the right 
of the offender. 

VI. The rubber consists of four games; but 
when two games have been won by the same 
player, the other, or others, are not played 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


2 9 


VII. When the declarer makes good his declara- 
tion, he scores as at Auction Bridge; when he 
fails to do so, he loses to each of his adversaries. 

VIII. The scoring is the same as at Auction 
Bridge, except with regard to honours, which are 
scored by each player severally — />., each player 
who has one honour in spades scores two ; each 
player having two honours in spades scores four ; 
a player holding three honours in spades scores 
six; a player holding four scores sixteen; and 
a player holding five honours in spades scores 
twenty ; and similarly for the other suits. In a 
“no trump ” declaration, aces count ten each ; and 
if all four be held by one player, one hundred. 

IX. One hundred points are scored by each 
player for every game he wins, and the winner of 
the rubber adds a further two hundred and fifty 
points to his score. 

X. At the conclusion of the rubber, the total 
scores obtained by each player are added up 
separately, and each player wins from, or loses to, 
each other player the difference between his score 
and that of the said other player. 




30 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


ETIQUETTE OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


The following rules belong to the established 
Etiquette of Auction Bridge. They are not called 
laws, as it is difficult — in some cases impossible— 
to apply any penalty to their infraction, and the 
only remedy is to cease to play with players who 
habitually disregard them. 

It is unfair to purposely make an impossible 
declaration, or one insufficient to overbid the 
previous one. 

Any one, having the lead and one or more win- 
ning cards to play, should not draw a second card 
out of his hand until his partner has played to the 
first trick, such act being a distinct intimation that 
the former has played a winning card. 

A player who has looked at his cards, ought not 
to give any indication by word or gesture as to 
the nature of his hand, or call the attention of his 
partner to the score of the game. 

A player who desires the cards to be placed, 
should do it for his own information only, and not 
in order to invite the attention of his partner. 


THE LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE. 


31 


No player should object to refer to a bystander, 
who professes himself uninterested in the game 
and able to decide, a disputed question of facts ; 
as to who played any particular card — whether 
honours were claimed though not scored, or vice 
versa — etc., etc. 

It is unfair to revoke purposely ; having made a 
revoke, a player is not justified in making a second 
in order to conceal the first 



X 



si 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 







































r 














f 





















INTRODUCTION, 


Auction Bridge is an off-shoot from, or, as some 
players think, an improvement upon, the ordinary 
game of Bridge. 

It is said that the members of the Bath Club, 
in Dover Street, lay claim to the honour, if honour 
it be, of having invented the new game. The 
story, as one of them told it to me, is that one 
afternoon in 1905 or 1906, instead of starting the 
customary rubber of Bridge, somebody said, “I 
am getting tired of this game. Don’t you think 
we could invent something better?” Thereupon 
they sat down, with the avowed intention of in- 
venting a new card game, and they claim that 
our present Auction Bridge is the. result of their 
joint deliberations. Oddly enough, this is almost 
exactly how the birth of Auction Bridge did take 
place; but it was not at the Bath Club, nor was 
it anywhere in England, and it was several years 
prior to 1906. 

The game originated in India- Three members 
of the Indian Civil ‘Service, of whom the gentleman 
who writes under the nom de plume of ‘‘John Doe,” 


3 $ 


INTRODUCTION. 


was one, were staying at a far-away hill station, 
where it was quite impossible to find a fourth 
Bridge player. They played “Cut-throat” for a 
time, but, finding that very uninteresting and 
tedious, they set their wits to work to invent some 
better three-handed form of the game of Bridge. 
They did not succeed for some time. Several varia- 
tions of the game were tried and rejected, until 
at last one of them conceived the idea (probably 
borrowed from Vint) of bidding for the declara- 
tion, and it caught on at once. On that basis a new 
game was formulated, and it was, then and there, 
christened “Auction Bridge.” It was exclusively a 
three-handed game. The idea of adapting it for 
four players was of much later date, and does not 
seem to have occurred to the original inventors. 

The exact date of its birth is somewhat uncertain. 
The first record which we have of it is a letter from 
the late Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, which appeared in 
The Times of January 16th, 1903. This letter gave 
a brief outline of the game, and described it as “the 
new game of Auction Bridge, for three players.” 

Mr. Crawfurd had just returned from India, and 
had, no doubt, seen it played in that country. 
According to his account of it, the bidding was 
confined to the first round, “ beginning and ending 
with the dealer”; from which expression I infer 
that the dealer was allowed two bids, and each of 
the other players one only. 


INTRODUCTION. 


37 


Another peculiar feature of the game, quite un- 
known to us, was that, after the final declaration 
was determined, the two opponents of the declarer 
could, by mutual consent, either double or halve 
the value of the declaration. We have never 
heard of such a thing as “halving,” but 1 presume 
that the effect of it was to reduce the value of the 
“ no trump ” declaration to six points per trick, and 
“ hearts ” to four, etc. Mr. Crawfurd’s letter led to 
a little correspondence in The Times , but there the 
matter ended, and no more was heard of Auction 
Bridge for a time. 

The next thing that happened in connection 
with it was the publication of a short treatise by 
“John Doe,” entitled “Auction Bridge,” and pub- 
lished by the Pioneer Press at Allahabad in 1904. 
The game, as therein described, was still confined 
to three players, but it had advanced a little, in that 
the bidding was not confined to the first round, 
but could go on ad infinitum , as under our present 
rules. The halving or doubling was still there, and 
“John Doe” described how it was done. As soon 
as the declaration was finally decided, the player 
on the declarer’s left could say, “I propose to 
double,” or “ I propose to halve.” If his partner 
agreed, the value of the declaration was doubled 
or halved, the declarer having no further say in the 
matter. If the partner did not agree to double 
or halve, the value of the declaration remained 


o' 


INTRODUCTION". 


stationary. In other respects the game seems to 
have been played very much on the present lines. 

A further, and much fuller, description of the 
new game appeared in an article in The Daily 
Mail , on April 24th, 1906, again by Mr. Oswald 
Crawfurd. Mr. Crawfurd seems to have been the 
real pioneer of the game in England, and I fancy 
that it was from this article in The Daily Mail 
that the members of the Bath Club drew their 
inspiration. What they probably did was to trans- 
form Auction Bridge from a three-handed game 
into a four-handed one, and even that reflects 
great credit upon them.* 

The Bath Club was, undoubtedly, the original 
home of the game in England, and for a long 
time it spread no further. 

We all heard of it, and most of us tried it, or 
at any rate watched it ; but we were not fascinated 
by it, and it seemed likely to live and die at the 
Bath Club. 

Then, in the early spring of 1908, Mr. Du Cane 
started a rubber of “ Auction ” one afternoon at 
the Portland Club, and its sudden success was 
almost magical. From that day to this it has 
been, played there regularly — not entirely to the 
exclusion of ordinary Bridge, but nearly so. 


* I am once more indebted to the courtesy of Mr. F. Tessel 
for much of the above information. — (W.D.) 


INTRODUCTION. 


39 


After that, the circle of Auction Bridge widened 
very rapidly, and at one time it looked like killing 
its ow»\ parent. Happily that has not come 
about. The old-fashioned game still flourishes 
and blossoms, and I have lately fancied that some 
players are rather tiring of the meretricious sub- 
stitute, and are inclined to return to their old love. 

Whether or not the new game is an improve- 
ment upon the old one, is, at present, a matter of 
opinion, which must be left for the future to 
decide. The new game has, undeniably, some 
great advantages over the old one. It offers 
much greater variety, and it is certainly a more 
amusing game to play ; also, it is not nearly so 
scientific, which many people will consider to be 
a great advantage. Again, the rather dispropor- 
tionate advantage held by the dealer at ordinary 
Bridge disappears altogether. At Auction Bridge 
the deal is a disadvantage rather than otherwise. 

The most exasperating form of bad luck at 
ordinary Bridge, familiar to every regular Bridge 
player, is to hold good hands, on which one could 
make a useful declaration, when the opponents have 
the deal, and never to hold a hand of declaring value 
when it is one's own deal. This does not obtain 
at all at Auction Bridge. A good hand has always 
the same value, whoever has the deal. The game 
is a very dull one indeed when one holds con- 
tinuous bad hands ; but what card game is not 


40 


INTRODUCTION. 


dull and irritating under such conditions? The 
run of bad luck must indeed be bad when one 
does not hold an occasional good hand; and 
whenever that occurs, whenever one holds a hand 
above the average at Auction Bridge, there is 
every opportunity of giving it its fullest value, no 
matter who was dealer, or who had the first right 
to declare. One really good hand will generally 
reduce the inflammation a great deal, even if it 
does not succeed in winning the game. 

Auction Bridge is really a clever combination of 
the two games of Poker and Bridge. It is played 
on Bridge lines; the scoring, the value of the suits, 
and the method of playing the cards, are precisely 
the same as at ordinary Bridge, but the declaration 
is entirely different ; and it is here that the Poker 
element comes in, and adds an entirely new 
interest to the game. A clever Poker player, 
provided that he knows the rudiments of Bridge, 
will be quite as likely to succeed at Auction 
Bridge as the most scientific of Bridge players. 
The scientific Bridge player will be hampered by 
his preconceived ideas of declaring, and it will 
take him quite as long to divest himself of these 
ideas, as it will take the Poker player to acquire 
the faculty of playing the cards correctly. There 
is one great point of similarity between Poker 
and Auction Bridge, and that is that the heaviest 
losses are not brought about by bad hands, but 


INTRODUCTION. 4 1 

by good hands, when one is unlucky enough to 
come up against adversaries with still better ones. 

The opponents of the new game (and they are 
many) have already dragged out the old threadbare 
argument, with which every new card game is met, 
that it is only introduced for purposes of gambling. 
Precisely the same argument was ventilated when 
Bridge superseded Whist, but it had no deterrent 
effect upon the success of Bridge, and it will have 
none upon the success of Auction Bridge, because 
it is not true. The points played for must be 
regulated according to the value of the game. 
Bridge would have been a very gambling game if 
it had been played for the same points as Whist, 
and Auction Bridge would be a gambling game if 
played for Bridge points ; but, just as the points 
at Bridge were very soon adjusted to the fresh 
requirements, so the points at Auction Bridge 
have already been adjusted to fit the new game. 

The bonus given for winning the rubber at 
Auction Bridge is 250 points, as against 100 
points at ordinary Bridge, and this ratio will be 
found to meet the case quite satisfactorily. If 
you are in the habit of playing ordinary Bridge 
for 5 s. per 100 points, your stake at Auction 
Bridge should be 2 s. per 100; if you are accus- 
tomed to play Bridge for 6 d. points, or £2 ioj. 
per 100, play Auction for £1 per 100, and you 
will find that the result is very much the same. 


42 


INTRODUCTION. 


Another argument, and a more specious one, 
which has been urged against Auction Bridge, 
is that it cannot be a good game because it will 
often pay a player better not to try to win the 
game, when he has a practical certainty of doing 
so ; whereas the primary object of every player, 
in any game, whether of luck or skill, ought to 
be to win the game as quickly as possible. This 
is undoubtedly sound, as far as it goes; but, in 
a game which is a question of profit or loss, 
should it not be quite as much the player’s object 
to win as much as he can, as to get the game 
over as quickly as possible? It seems to me 
that the argument refutes itself. 

I mentioned earlier that Auction Bridge is 
not so scientific as ordinary Bridge, and, in my 
own mind, I am firmly convinced that I am 
right in saying so. although many of the keen 
Auction Bridge players entirely refuse to acknow- 
ledge it. It is a game of quick perception and 
of sound judgment — yes ; but of scientific play of 
the cards — no; not in the same category with 
ordinary Bridge. 

The finest points of play which arise at 
ordinary Bridge are in Playing to the score; in 
declaring to the score when either side are at 
an advanced stage, such as 24, 26, or 28 ; and, 
in a minor degree, in the play of the cards 
under such conditions, when the whole game 


INTRODUCTION. 


43 


may turn on winning or losing one trick in an 
unimportant suit. This does not exist at Auction 
Bridge. To be 26 or 28 up, even in the last 
game of the rubber, is of no value at all, as you 
are not in the least likely to be left in to make 
one trick in clubs or in spades ; and even to be 
24 up is of very little value, as you may be quite 
sure that your opponents will not leave you with 
“One Heart” or “One Diamond,” unless their 
hands are quite valueless, in which case you would 
still win the game from a much lower point in the 
score. The scores which really matter are 14 or 18, 
as “Two Hearts” or “Two Diamonds” will then 
win you the game, and your opponents may not 
be able to overcall you, except at great risk of 
being doubled, and of losing a substantial amount. 

At ordinary Bridge every trick in every hand 
has a pronounced value, and one great secret of 
the good player’s, success is that he systematically 
wins the most possible, or loses the least possible, 
on every hand — and every trick is of value. On a 
heart declaration a good player will perhaps win 
three by cards, scoring 24, while an inferior player 
will only win two by cards, scoring 16. That extra 
trick won is of much greater value than the mere 
8 points which it seems to represent, as it gives the 
side w r hich have won it a fine chance of winning 
the game on their next deal. 


44 


INTRODUCTION. 


At Auction Bridge it would be of no use at all 
beyond the value of 8 points, which is infinitesimal, 
and the skilful player derives practically no ad- 
vantage from his skill in winning that extra trick. 
One frequently hears a player say, “ I could have 
won another trick, but it does not matter; I could 
never have won the game.” And he is quite right, 
it does not matter; his bad play will have cost him 
nothing, and the legitimate advantage of the skilful 
player is thereby seriously minimised. There are 
only two things that matter at Auction Bridge : 
fulfilling the contract, and winning the game. 
Between these two there is no issue of any value. 

If the dealer fulfils his contract, and could 
never have won the game, one trick more or less, 
won or lost, is of no consequence at all, except for 
the few points which it represents ; and this is all 
in favour of the unskilful player and against the 
skilful one. 

Again, in the play of the two hands as dealer, 
the scientific Bridge player owes a great part of his 
advantage to his faculty of placing high cards and 
counting his opponents’ hands, with no data to 
guide him beyond the actual fall of the cards. At 
Auction Bridge these data are generally supplied 
to him. When one opponent has called “Two 
Clubs,” and the other has called “Two Diamonds,” 
it does not require the cunning of Mephistopheles 
to place thfe high cards in those two suits — anyone, 


INTRODUCTION. 


45 


short of an idiot, can do it as well as the greatest 
master of the game. So much information as to 
the hands is bound to be given by the previous 
declarations, that the subsequent play of the cards 
is generally very easy. 

These are some of the reasons why 1 contend 
that Auction Bridge is not nearly so scientific a 
game as ordinary Bridge. I have no wish to 
induce the moderate Bridge player to give up 
ordinary Bridge and to take to Auction — far from 
it. I should be very sorry to think that Bridge, 
ordinary scientific Bridge, would ever yield its 
proud position as the prince of all card games ; but 
I am quite sure that the moderate player has a far 
better chance of holding his own, against superior 
skill, at the new game, than he ever had, or ever 
would be likely to have, at the old one. 

So much for the* merits of the new game. It 
also has serious demerits. For one thing, one is 
terribly in the hands of one’s partner, and there is 
no getting away from it. 

The same thing applies, more or less, to all 
partnership games. Even at ordinary Bridge, one 
may be let in for very serious, and unlooked for, 
losses, by a partner who makes rash declarations, 
or who doubles, not wisely, but fearlessly. At 
Auction Bridge, the possible losses entailed by 
an over-speculative partner are fearful to contem- 
plate ; and this is the one great blot on the game, 


40 


INTRODUCTION. 


that it is quite impossible to protect oneself against 
a partner’s eccentricities. A rash partner, who 
will insist on grasping at the declaration, and 
who habitually declares above the value of his 
hand, on the principle of “ keeping the flag flying,” 
is very dangerous indeed to play with, and is 
almost certain to land one into serious trouble; 
and the worst of it is that there is no means of 
stopping him. Any declaration that one makes 
oneself only encourages him to further flights, and 
the wisest policy to pursue, in such a case, is to 
sit tight, and to get the game over as soon as 
possible, with as little loss as possible. 

Perhaps I had better explain what is meant by 
“keeping the flag flying.” It is a term peculiar 
to Auction Bridge, invented to meet the special 
requirements of the game, and it applies to a 
player who voluntarily incurs an almost certain 

loss, above the line, with the object of keeping 
his opponents from scoring below the line, and 
so winning the game and rubber. He is then said 
to keep the flag flying, the idea being that, as 
long as the flag is flying over the fort, all is not 

lost, but there is still a hope of retrieving a des- 
perate situation. 

There is a peculiar feature about Auction 
Bridge, that it is possible for a player, who is so 
minded, to prevent his opponents from ever 
winning the rubber, by always overcalling their 


INTRODUCTION. 


47 


declaration, even with the certain knowledge that 
he will be defeated on his own call. This is the 
idea which gave rise to the principle of keeping 
the flag flying. If a player really determined to 
pash this principle to its furthest point, his op- 
ponents would never be able to win the rubber 
on any declaration short of “Grand Slam in No 
Trumps,” as that is the only declaration which 
cannot be overcalled ; but, in the meantime, he 
would be piling up terrible losses above the line, 
until, sooner or later, his opponents would turn 
round and allow him to win the rubber, when 
he would And himself a loser of an appalling 
number of points. 

In the early days of Auction Bridge, before 
the possibilities of the game were clearly under- 
stood, some players were rather infatuated with 
this idea of keeping the flag flying, and carried 
it to great excess. 

There was one memorable rubber, in which 
two players, each possessed of this idea* cut to- 
gether as partners, and they carried out their 
principles so thoroughly that they eventually 
accomplished their object of winning the rubber, 
but they lost 1200 points on the transaction ; and 
it is to be hoped that this was a salutary lesson 
to them. 

The bonus of 250 points for winning the rubber 
is too small a margin to allow of this principle 


48 INTRODUCTION. 

being carried to any great excess, and quite rightly 
so. There are occasions when it is undoubtedly 
sound policy to make a call on which one fully 
expects to be beaten, with the object of prevent- 
ing one’s opponents winning the game and rubber ; 
but these occasions are not common, and the 
principle of keeping the flag flying at all hazards 
cannot fail to be a ruinous one. 

The personal element comes in very strongly at 
Auction Bridge. There is more advantage in 
knowing one’s partner’s peculiarities, and his 
methods of play, at this game, than at any other 
that ever was invented. Two moderate players, 
who have played together a great deal, and who 
are thoroughly conversant with each other’s 
methods of declaring, will have a great advantage 
over two much better players, who are playing 
together for the first time. 

Another demerit of Auction Bridge, although a 
smaller one, is the extreme slowness with which it 
is so often played. Played quickly, it is a very 
pretty game ; but, for some unknown reason, many 
players take such an inordinately long time about 
making their declarations, that the game is apt to 
hang fire very much, and to become almost 
boring. Hesitation in declaring does not give 
away the same amount of information as it does at 


in production. 


49 


ordinary Bridge (which is, incidentally, another 
score for the new game), but it does tend to make 
the game very tedious, and to take away half the 
pleasure from it. 

Some players start with the idea that they can 
bluff at the game, but they are very soon, and 
very expensively, undeceived. I said earlier that 
Auction Bridge has a great element of Poker in it, 
but it is not the Poker element of bluffing, by 
declaring above the value of one's hand. Auction 
Bridge is a game in which a player should declare 
under the value of his hand, rather than above it. 
Never be in a hurry to make an expensive 
declaration. You are certain to have another say. 
Rather wait and see what your opponents can do, 
and then overcall them, or double them, if you 
are in a position to do so with advantage. Above 
all, try to vary your game as much as possible — 
that is where the real Poker element comes in, in 
disguising the strength of your own hands, and in 
gauging the strength of your opponents’ hands. 
The man who plays a straightforward, stereotyped 
game, always declaring up to the full value of his 
hand, will have little chance against the man who 
varies his game skilfully, who sometimes says 
nothing and conceals the strength of his hand 
until the last moment, and at other times pushes 


5 ° 


INTRODUCTION. 


his hand for all that it is worth. His opponents 
will be able to make nothing out of him, and will 
not know what he is driving, at, whereas the other 
man’s hand will be easy to read. Understanding 
the opponents’ game, and being able to gauge the 
probable strength on which their declarations have 
been made, is the first element of success at 
Auction Bridge. When a player has arrived at 
that knowledge, and combines with it a thorough 
appreciation of the principle that it will pay him 
better, in the long run, to defeat his adversaries 
than to score himself, he will have little to learn 
about Auction Bridge, and ought to be able to 
hold his own in any company. 



CHAPTER I. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME. 

Auction Bridge is played on the same lines as 
ordinary Bridge, with one or two important varia- 
tions. It is played by four players, and the cutting 
for partners and for the deal, the method of dealing, 
and the value of the suits, are precisely the same 
as at ordinary Bridge. The point where Auction 
Bridge diverges from its parent game is in the 
declaration, which is not confined to the dealer 
and his partner, but every player in turn has the 
right of making a declaration by overcalling any 
previous declaration which has been made. 

Let us start from the beginning. As soon as 
the deal is completed, the dealer looks at his cards, 
and is obliged to make a declaration of some kind. 
He has no option of deputing the call to his 
partner, as at ordinary Bridge; he is obliged to 
declare something. A common first call by the 
dealer is “One Spade,” which means that he 
contracts to win one odd trick, or, in other words, 
seven out of the thirteen tricks, with spades as 
trumps, playing his own hand and his partner’s 
combined, as at ordinary Bridge. The player on 
the dealer’s left can then double the spade call, or 
he can make any declaration of a higher value 
— that is “ One Club,” or one diamond, or one 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


heart, or one “no trump,” or he can simply pass 
the spade declaration, if he does not wish to 
make any declaration of his own. The dealer’s 
partner can then overcall anything that has 
been already called, either by the dealer or by 
the second hand, or he can pass the previous 
declaration, or double a call made by the second 
player. If the second player has called “One 
Club,” the third player can call “One Diamond,” 
or anything higher. 'If the second player has 
called “One Heart,” the third player can call 
“Two Clubs,” as the call of two tricks always 
beats the call of one trick if the value is 
the same; thus, a call of “Two Diamonds” is 
higher than “One No Trump,” and “Three Hearts” 
is higher than “ Two No Trumps,” the value in each 
case being the same. If the dealer has called 
“ One Spade,” and the second player has passed, 
the third player should always declare something. 
If he has any reasonable call which he can make 
on his own hand, he will naturally make it ; but it 
is usual for him to go rather further than this, 
and to take his partner out of the spade call 
if he can do so with reasonable safety. It then 
devolves upon the fourth player, who can either 
double the third player’s call, or can make any 
declaration of a higher value, or, if he wishes 
to do so, can pass. The dealer then comes in 
again, and he, just like the others, can either 
overcall, or double, or pass ; and so it goes on 
round until everyone has declared hipiself satisfied. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


S3 


Every time that a declaration is made, the other 
three players have, in their turn, the right to over- 
call it, no matter how many times the call may 
have gone round. A player can always overcall his 
partner, but he cannot double his partner’s declara- 
tion. When a declaration is doubled by one of the 
opponents, the game is re-opened, and either the 
declarer or his partner can overcall the doubled 
declaration ; thus, if a player declares <r Two 
Hearts” and is doubled, either he or his partner 
can get out of it by declaring “Two No Trumps” 
or “Three Diamonds.” A double only. affects the 
score, and not the value in declaring, so that a 
call of “ Two Diamonds ” is higher than “ One No 
Trump ” doubled. 

When everyone has expressed himself satisfied, 
the original declarer of the selected trump plays 
the two hands, his partner’s hand being exposed, 
as Dummy, after the first card is led, and the game 
then proceeds as at ordinary Bridge. Let us take 
an example. AB are partners against YZ. A 
deals and declares “One Spade,” Y passes, B 
declares “ One Diamond,” Z declares “ One 
Heart.” A, the dealer, says “Two Diamonds”; 
Y goes “Two Hearts”; B, Z, and A all pass. Z 
then plays the hand ; A, the dealer, leads to the 
first trick ; Y’s hand is exposed on the table, and 
YZ have contracted to win two by cards, or 
eight tricks, with hearts as trumps. It will be 
noted that, in the above case, Z plays the hand, 
although his partner, Y, made the final call 
of “ Two Hearts.” This is because Z was the 


54 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


original caller of the heart suit. His partner’s call 
of “Two Hearts” raises the value of the contract 
from one trick to two, but it does not affect the 
question of who plays the two hands. The original 
caller of the suit selected is always the player, 
notwithstanding the fact that his partner has 
overcalled him in the same suit; the theory being 
that the real strength in the suit lies with the 
original caller, and his partner has only backed him 
up to show that he can render some assistance. 

The value of the suits is exactly the same as at 
ordinary Bridge, and the amount required to win 
the game (30 below the line) is also the same ; 
but the method of scoring is very different. The 
declaring side, provided that they fulfil their con- 
tract, score exactly as they would at ordinary 
Bridge. If they declare hearts, and win four by 
cards, they score 32 below the line and win the 
game, whether their contract was one, two, three, or 
four tricks ; but if they fail to get their contract — 
for instance, if they declare “ Three Hearts ” and 
only win two by cards — neither they nor their 
opponents score anything below the line for that 
hand, but their opponents score 50 points above 
the line for every trick under the contract, or if 
the declaration was doubled, 100 points for every 
such under-trick. This bonus above the line does 
not vary according to the value of the declaration. 
It always remains at 50 points, whatever the 
declaration may have been, whether it was spades 
or “no trumps.” 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 55 

- v ; .....A 

Under no circumstances can a side score any- 
thing below the line towards the game, when the 
final declaration is against them. If their 
opponents declare “One No Trump,” and they 
double and win three by cards, they do not win 
the game (the score below the line is still virgin 
on both sides), but they score 300 above the line, 
as their opponents contracted to win seven tricks, 
and only won four, which entails a loss of 150 
points above the line, or, as the declaration was 
doubled, a loss of 300 points; the score below 
the line remaining exactly as it was. 

The bonus for winning the rubber is 250 points 
instead of the 100 points at ordinary Bridge ; but 
this benefice of 250 points is often materially dis- 
counted by previous losses above the line, and it 
is by no means an uncommon occurrence at 
Auction Bridge for the side which eventually wins 
the rubber to lose on the transaction. 

In making the declaration, it is desirable to 
express oneself as plainly as possible. Any em- 
broidery, in the shape of inconsequential remarks, 
should be carefully avoided. On the first round 
of the call, it is better to declare “One Spade,” 
or “ One Heart,” or “ One No Trump,” rather than 
to say “Spades,” or “Hearts,” or “No Trumps,” 
so as to prevent any possible misunderstanding. 
When passing the declaration, the word “ Pass ” is 
a bad one to use, as it is so easily mistaken for 
“ Hearts.” It is better to say “ Content,” or “ No 
more,” or simply “No,” as there cannot possibly 


56 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

be any misunderstanding about those terms. Also, 
in doubling a declaration, a player should always 
particularise the call which he is -doubling. For 
instance, u I double three Hearts,” or “ I double 
two No Trumps,” is much plainer and better than 
simply saying “ Double,” or “ I double.” 

Until last year there were no recognised Laws 
of Auction Bridge. The Bath Club had its own 
code, the Portland Club had its own code, and 
other Clubs, at which the game was regularly 
played, had their own codes. 

This was such a very unsatisfactory state of 
affairs that something, had to be done. Accord- 
ingly, early in 1908, a standard Code of Laws 
was drawn up, and agreed upon, by a Joint Com- 
mittee of the Portland and Bath Clubs. This 
code was published, in small book form, by 
Messrs. De La Rue & Co. Ltd., and was gratefully 
accepted by the Auction Bridge playing public, as 
a solution of the difficulty. That appeared to be 
the end of the matter, but it was not so. No 
sooner did the Laws appear in print, than certain 
cavillers arose, and found much fault with them — 
not with the purport or the working of them (every- 
body was quite satisfied with that), but with the 
wording and phraseology. 

Thereupon, a fresh Committee was formed to 
go all over the ground again, and to polish up and 
revise the work of the first Committee. This has 
now been done, and it is to be hoped that the 
Laws are at last definitely settled. A good many 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 57 

alterations have been made, but they are all verbal 
ones. The Laws affecting the declaration and the 
play of the hand remain, in substance, the same 
as they were before. The full text of them will 
be found at the beginning of this book. 

A notable addition has been made in the form 
of Laws for Three-handed Auction Bridge. It is 
rather curious that there should be a desire to 
return to the original form in which the game was 
played, but it is so. There are some players who 
prefer the three-handed form of the game, and 
who always play it when they get the chance, and 
therefore it was thought necessary to formulate 
Laws for them. 

Three-handed Auction Bridge can hardly be 
described as a game of skill. It very soon de- 
generates into a mere medium for gambling, and 
it is more to be compared to sitting round a table 
and tossing for sovereigns, than to playing an in- 
telligent game. 

The most important of the Auction Bridge Laws 
is the limitation of the loss on a declaration of 
“One Spade” to ioo points, whether doubled or 
not. This is for the protection of the dealer, who 
is obliged to make a declaration of some kind, how- 
ever bad his hand may be. Without such a Law, it 
was quite possible for the dealer and his partner, 
supposing that they both held very bad hands, to 
be let in for a serious loss, which they had no 
possible means of avoiding. To meet this emer- 
gency, they have been given the refuge of the 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP TO-DATE. 


58 


“One Spade” declaration, limited to a loss of 
ioo points. If the dealer’s partner chooses, of his 
own volition, to call “Two Spades,” he does so at 
his own risk, and he must abide by the conse- 
quences of his action if it happens to turn out 
very badly, as it may do. The safety-valve has 
been offered to him, and, if he refuses to avail 
himself of it, he will have nobody but himself to 
blame should serious loss ensue. 

An extra bonus of 50 points, above the line, has 
been given to a player who fulfils his contract, 
when he has been doubled. This is designed to 
check the somewhat indiscriminate doubling which 
was creeping into the game. Some players, when 
their opponents had made a declaration which 
would win the game, were in the habit of doubling, 
without any justifiable grounds for so doing, on the 
off chance of something happening. 

The penalty for a revoke has been altered, and 
brought within reasonable limits ; and the rest of 
the Laws are only such as were required to meet 
the special requirements of the game. The Laws 
of ordinary Bridge apply to every case for which a 
special Auction Bridge Law has not been framed. 



AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


59 


CHAPTER II. 

THE DECLARATION. 

The declaration is the Alpha and the Omega, the 
beginning and the end, of Auction Bridge. The 
play of the cards is quite a secondary considera- 
tion, compared with the declaration. At ordinary 
Bridge there are two potent factors towards 
success — correct and intelligent declaring on the 
one hand, and skilful play of the cards on the 
other ; and the latter is by far the more valuable 
of the two. At Auction Bridge the situation is 
reversed. Skilful play, which enables a player to 
extract the utmost value from a hand, is un- 
doubtedly of value, but it does not conduce nearly 
so much to success as intelligent and clever 
declaring. 

There are some hands which are quite simple, 
and which are played just as at ordinary Bridge; but 
there are others, the great majority of hands, which 
turn on the declaration to such an extent that, when 
the bidding for the declaration is over, the interest 
of the game, as regards that particular hand, is 
practically over. 


6o 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


In the early days of Auction Bridge, under 
the old rules, there were two distinct schools of 
players — or perhaps I should say of declarers, 
which really amounts to the same thing. The 
guiding principle of the one school was to conceal 
their strength as much as possible, in the hope 
of inducing their opponents to declare above the 
value of their hands, when they would pounce 
down upon them, and double them, and probably 
score a very substantial sum above the line. The 
aim and object of the other school was to win 
the game and the rubber as quickly as possible, 
with no beating about the bush at all, and these 
players always declared up to the full value of 
their hands straight away. It was found that the 
latter school used to win more rubbers than the 
former, but the rubbers which they won were 
invariably small ones; whereas, when the others, 
the waiting school, won a rubber, it generally 
assumed proportions which were very pleasing — 
to themselves, not to their opponents. 

The introduction of the new “One Spade” 
limitation rule brought about a great change in 
this state of affairs. The two schools still exist, 
but there is not nearly the marked difference 
between them which there used to be, and on 
many points they are agreed. The opening 
declaration from strength is now universal, or 
very nearly so, and there is but little of the lying 
low, and declaring “One Spade” on a strong 
“no trump” hand, which used at one time to 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 6 1 


be such a favourite method of opening the game. 
There are some players who do it occasionally, 
but it is now quite the exception, instead of being, 
as it formerly was, the general practice. 

It is not the number of rubbers won, but the 
value of them, which tends to success at Auction 
Bridge, and this is all a question of skilful and 
intelligent declaring. As an instance of what I 
mean, a Bridge player of great experience, who 
had, no doubt, played the new game by the light 
of his preconceived ideas of declaring at the old 
one, once said to me, “This Auction Bridge 
seems a very funny game. I have kept a careful 
account ever since I began to play it, and I find 
that I am a loser at it, although I have won two 
games out of every three that I have played. How 
do you account for that?” I could account for 
it quite easily, although I did not like to tell 
him so. He did not understand the very first 
principle of the game, which is that it frequently 
pays better to defeat the opponents’ call than to 
score oneself. 

The real test of whether a man is a good player 
at Auction Bridge is not whether he wins or loses 
at the game — that may be a mere matter of cards. 
We all know that good cards will beat good play, 
and that the finest player in the world cannot win 
against a superfluity of aces and kings. The real 
test is whether he habitually wins a larger average 
of points per rubber than he loses, or the reverse. 
One or two rubbers prove nothing ; but if a player 


62 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


finds that he continues to lose appreciably larger 
rubbers than he wins, do not let him flatter himself 
that it is the fault of the cards, or of his partners 
Let him rather give up playing Auction Bridge and 
take to Skittles ; he will have a much better chance 
of winning at that. If, on the contrary, his 
winning average of points is considerably, and 
regularly, in excess of his losing average, then let 
him shake hands with himself, and continue to 
play the game with the greatest confidence. 

Now as regards the giving of information. On 
this point Auction Bridge differs considerably 
from its parent game. When a player has strength 
in one suit, and in one only — and by “ strength ” 
I mean winning cards, not numerical strength — 
it may be of great assistance to his partner to 
know that that suit is protected, with a view to a 
“no trump” call. Therefore it is expedient, in such 
a case, to make a declaration in that suit, simply 
with the idea of giving the partner information, and 
.thereby helping him to declare “ no trumps.” 

When a player has a really strong hand, he 
expects to be the eventual player of the two hands, 
and therefore his object should be to gather in- 
formation, not to dispense it. He should not give 
away unnecessary information, which can be of no 
possible use to his partner, but which may be of 
some use to his opponents. 

The indiscriminate giving of information on the 
declaration is a mistake at Auction Bridge. One 
great element in the game is to realise when to 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 63 

give information and when to withhold it. Some- 
times it is very helpful to make a declaration 
which will give information to one’s partner, but 
not always. The well-known axiom of Whist and 
of Bridge, that it is more important to give informa- 
tion to one partner than to withhold the same 
information from two adversaries, applies equally 
to the play of the cards at Auction Bridge, but 
does not invariably hold good as regards the 
declaration. 

A first-class Bridge player, starting to play 
Auction Bridge, must begin by disabusing his 
mind of some of his most cherished Bridge 
maxims, otherwise he will never become a good 
declarer. The first tenet of his Bridge religion 
has always been that, when he has a good hand, 
he should make the game as expensive as possible 
by declaring at once up to the very fullest value 
of his hand ; but this will not lead him to success 
at the new game. 

The conditions as regards the value attaching 
to the deal are so entirely different. So far from 
the deal being an enormous advantage, it becomes 
rather a disadvantage. At ordinary Bridge, the 
declaration is confined to the dealing side, and 
they know that if they do not advance their 
score materially on their own deal, they will 
have little chance of doing so on their opponents’, 
and their opponents’ deal comes next. They are 
always haunted by the fear that their opponents 
may win the game on the next deal, and this 


64 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

obliges then* to declare at once up to the fullest 
value of their hands. At Auction Bridge there is 
no anxiety of this kind. Each side will have an 
equal chance of scoring on the next deal, and 
therefore the dealer has no immediate cause for 
hurry. 

Some players, especially good Bridge players, 
altogether refuse to accept the theory that there 
can be any other road to success, than winning 
the game and rubber as quickly as they can. They 
argue, with some show of reason, that the bonus 
for winning the rubber is 250 points, and that 
winning or losing this bonus entails a difference of 
500 points, which is a very considerable amount, 
and well worth going for. We grant all that, we 
others ; but we contend that there is another way 
of looking at the matter. Suppose that a player 
has won the first game, and that he picks up a 
strong “ no trump ” hand, on which he will have to 
be very unlucky if he does not win three by cards 
and game. He has declared “Two No Trumps,” 
and one of his opponents calls “Three Hearts.” 
He is well guarded in the heart suit — say, king, ten, 
and two others — so that his opponents have no 
earthly chance of winning nine tricks on their 
heart declaration. What is he to do ? The Bridge 
player, the careful man, the seeker after the 
nimble ninepence, will call “Three No Trumps,” 
and will win the game and rubber, and will make 
sure of those 250 points. Not so the experienced 
Auction Bridge player. He will double the 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 65 

“ Three Hearts ” declaration, and will make a big 
score above the line. 

Let us say that he scores 200 points — he will 
probably score a great deal more than that, but let 
us take 200 points as a working hypothesis. What 
is the position now with regard to those 250 
rubber points ? 

Our friend stands to win 450 extra points if 
he eventually wins the rubber, and to lose only 
50 extra points if he fails to win it ; that is- to 
say, the odds are 9 to 1 in his favour, and he 
still remains with a game in hand. Surely a very 
desirable position to be in. 

The consideration of the mathematical odds, 
laid or taken, is one which ought to enter largely 
into the question of the declaration. No doubt, 
if the game ever becomes really popular, some 
mathematical genius will work out these odds, and 
will give the public the bencrit of his calculations. 
All declarations at Auction Bridge really amount 
to laying odds, greater or less, on performing the 
contract which one enters into. The difference is 
that, in making a big declaration, one is laying long 
odds on oneself — in doubling a declaration made 
by the opponents, one is taking odds; and my own 
experience has taught me that, in any form of 
speculation, it is far more profitable to take odds 
than to lay them. 

To revert for a few moments to the subject 
of giving information to one’s partner. Auction 
Bridge is essentially a game of aces and kings as 

F 


66 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


against numerical strength. The information to 
give a partner, the information which is likely to 
be of use to him, is that one can command a 
certain suit — that one holds the ace and king, or 
at least the king and queen of it ; and this is the 
basis on which all informatory declarations should 
be made. 

In making a forced declaration, it is much better 
to declare “ One Diamond ” on ace, king, and one 
other, than on five diamonds headed by the knave. 
The most delusive, and the most dangerous partner 
to play with, is the man who makes a declaration 
on five small cards, or even on six cards, of a suit, 
headed by the knave or ten. A case in point 
occurred to me quite recently. The score was 
love-all. My partner declared “One Diamond,” 
the next player called “One Heart,” I called 
“One No Trump,” the other adversary called 
“Two Hearts,” my partner called “Three Dia- 
monds,” and was overcalled with “Three Hearts.” 

My hand was — 

4* Ace, 10, 6 

Queen, Knave, 4 

Ace, King, 7, 6, 4 

Q Queen, 3 

I naturally doubled “Three Hearts,” as I had 
a practical certainty of four tricks in my own 
hand, and I could trust my partner — or thought 
that I could trust him — for at least one trick in 
diamonds. What do you suppose happened? My 
partner had called “Three Diamonds” on six to 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 67 

the knave, with nothing else in his hand at all, 
and we lost the game and rubber on the hand. 
I won my four tricks all right, but that was all 
that we did win; and then my partner blamed me 
for doubling, and said that he only called “Three 
Diamonds” on the strength of nry call of “One 
No Trump.” My call was quite sound. I had 
quite a good “ no trump ” hand with a legitimate 
diamond call from my partner, but it was not a 
legitimate diamond call. The real cause of the 
trouble was my partner not understanding that 
one rudimentary principle of Auction Bridge — 
that it is a game of aces and kings, not of 
numerical strength. 

The Subject of the declaration is an easy one 
to generalise upon, but it is a difficult one to 
write about in detail with any degree of authority, 
or to lay down hard-and-fast rules for, because 
no two hands are ever quite the same, and also 
because the ideas and methods of different players, 
equally good, differ so very widely. At Auction 
Bridge there can never be said to be a right or 
a wrong declaration, as there generally is at 
ordinary Bridge. Two equally good players will 
often declare quite differently upon the same 
hand ; and, without judging by results, it is quite 
impossible to say that one was right or the other 
wrong. 

Not only do the ideas of different players vary 
very widely, but also the methods of declaring in 
different circles, and at different clubs, appear to 
F 2 


68 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


vary very considerably. This is one great draw- 
back to the game as it exists at present, that 
the methods of play are not universal, that 
different coteries of players have their . different 
conventions, and that, consequently, a man who 
plays for the first time in a fresh set often 
finds himself hopelessly at sea, and is at a grave 
disadvantage.* It is a game of infinite variety, 
and different people have widely different ideas 
as to how it ought to be played. 

Some believe in this method of play, and others 
do not believe in that, and it is quite impossible 
to discuss all the theories propounded. All that I 
can do is to outline the methods which I personally 
consider to be the best, and which I have seen 
practised, with some success, ever since the first 
introduction of the game. 

The bidding on the first round of the call — the 
tentative bidding, so to speak — is so different from 
the real business of the hand, that I shall treat 
the two separately. I shall first deal with the 
declaration of each of the four players on the 
first round, and then with the general declaration, 
when real business is meant, and when they are 
working up to the ultimate playing point. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


69 


CHAPTER III. 

THE DEALER. 

The Dealer is in rather an unenviable position, 
because he is obliged to declare something ; he has 
no option of shifting the responsibility on to his 
partner’s shoulders, as he has at ordinary Bridge. 
However little he may wish to do so, he is obliged 
to make some declaration. If he has a bad hand, 
or a hand on which he does not think it advisable, 
for the present, to make any valuable declaration, 
he naturally falls back on the safety declaration of 
" One Spade.” An original declaration of “ One 
Spade” means nothing. It does not indicate 
strength, or even protection, in the spade suit, 
and must never be taken as signifying that It 
merely means that the dealer does not think it 
advisable to make any higher declaration, and its 
significance is exactly the same as the passing of 
the declaration by the dealer at ordinary Bridge. 
Instead of saying “I leave it,” as he would at 
ordinary Bridge, he declares “One Spade” at 
Auction Bridge. The two calls are absolutely 
identical. 

In my earlier book, published in 1908 , 1 strongly 
advocated an original call of “One Spade” by 
the dealer when he had a good hand ; in fact, I 


70 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


went even further than that, and said, “ The better 
the dealer’s hand, the more it behoves him to lie 
low, and to open the proceedings with a call of 
‘One Spade.’” 

Not only was this quite sound advice at the 
time when it was written, but also it was, at that 
.time, the almost universal custom among the best 
Auction Bridge players of the day. Since then 
a complete revolution has taken place in the 
accepted methods of declaring. 

This revolution was brought about by two 
causes. Firstly, by the great value of the “no 
trump ” call becoming more fully recognised and 
understood. Players learnt by experience that it 
paid them to declare “no trumps” at Auction 
Bridge on hands which would be considered quite 
unjustifiable “ no trump ” calls at ordinary Bridge. 
Consequently, when the dealer declared “One 
Spade” on a “no trump” hand, it frequently 
happened that one of the opponents called “ One 
No Trump” instead, and all the attacking value 
of the dealer’s hand was gone. 

Secondly, the new law, limiting the loss on a 
declaration of “One Spade” to ioo points, altered 
the complexion of affairs a great deal. Before the 
introduction of this law there was a convention 
that the third player should always give his partner 
another chance of coming in, after a call of “ One 
Spade,” by declaring “Two Spades,” if he could 
not rise to anything better. It is easy to see how 
the new law affected this convention. Players of 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 71 

a timorous nature refused to be bound by it, and, 
when they had a bad hand, preferred to accept 
the first loss of ioo points, rather than to run the 
risk of losing a good deal more. 

Under these circumstances, it is obvious that it 
was not wise for the dealer to call “ One Spade ” 
on a good hand, as it was quite possible that he 
might find himself left with it. That is the real 
reason for the great change which has, undoubtedly, 
taken place. 

The best of all opening declarations for the 
dealer is “ One No Trump,” provided that he has 
the smallest nucleus of a “ no trump ” hand. He 
does not require to have even the nucleus of what 
would be considered a “ no trump ” hand at ordi- 
nary Bridge. Let him dismiss from his mind all 
his theories of the Robertsonian standard, or of 
any other standard. There is not, and never could 
be, any recognised standard for a “ no trump ” call 
at Auction Bridge. ' Such a thing does not exist. 
If the dealer has a fairly guarded hand, with one 
ace, he will do no harm by beginning with “One 
No Trump.” He should declare it on a hand which 
would be an utterly unsound “ no trump ” call at 
ordinary Bridge. It means so little. It is a pro 
tective measure quite as much as an aggressive 
one. It at once precludes the opponents from 
showing one another their strength in spades or 
clubs, and it forces them to begin with a two- 
trick declaration in either red suit in which they 
may hold strength. 


72 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

The effect of the “no trump” declaration at 
Auction Bridge is widely different from that at 
ordinary Bridge. At ordinary Bridge it is the 
most valuable declaration which can be made, but 
at the same time it is the most dangerous one. 
It is easier to win the game at “ no trumps ” than 
on any other declaration, but it is also easier to 
lose the game. At Auction Bridge the “ no 
trump” declaration is still the most valuable 
one ; it is still easier to win the game, or to make 
a good score, on that declaration than on any 
other. But, instead of being the most dangerous 
call, it now becomes the safest one, inasmuch 
as the declarer is only laying 4 to i on winning 
the odd trick, instead of 25 to 1 with a spade 
declaration, or 12^ to 1 with a call of clubs. 
This apparently obvious fact does not seem to 
enter into the calculations of many players nearly 
as much as it ought to do. They cannot divest 
themselves of the idea, derived from long experi- 
ence of Bridge, that the “no trump”' call is a very 
fine one when it succeeds, but a very expensive 
one when it fails. 

At Auction Bridge the possible loss entailed 
by failure at “no trumps” is precisely the same 
as the possible loss entailed by failure at spades — 
not one point more, either above or below the line. 

That is the point which I wish to impress most 
strongly upon the minds of my readers — to impress 
so strongly that they will never lose sight of it 
It is the main turning-point of the whole game: 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 73 

that, whereas the possible gain varies with the 
value of the declaration, the possible loss re- 
mains absolutely stationary, and the two are out 
of ail proportion. 

The “ no trump ” call has so many advantages. 
Not only is it the most valuable — not only is it the 
one on which the declarer is laying the smallest 
odds — not only does it offer to the player the best 
chance of combining the strength of the two hands 
under his control — not only does it preclude the 
opponents from showing their strength in the black 
suits, and force them up to a two-trick declaration 
in the red suits — but it has yet another great 
advantage, one which does not pertain to it at 
ordinary Bridge : it prevents the opponents from 
declaring “no trumps,” and thus cuts away the 
ground from under their feet It is quite a com- 
mon occurrence for two opponents to both hold 
perfectly justifiable “ no trump ” hands, and, natur- 
ally, the one who can first declare “no trumps” 
has a very great advantage. 

Every Bridge player of any experience will be 
able to recall to his memory certain “ no trump ” 
hands— probably scores of them— which have been 
carried through with success ; and then one of the 
opponents will have said, “ I thought it was quite 
impossible that they could win the game on that 
hand. I had a ‘no trump ’ hand myself.” When 
this occurs at ordinary Bridge there is no help for 
the non-dealers. They can only sit and suffer. 
At Auction Bridge, on the contrary, the declaration 


74 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

is not confined to one side ; anybody can make a 
call in his proper turn, and the player who declares 
“ no trumps ” first will nearly always have the best 
of the argument. 

Over and over again it happens at Auction Bridge 
that a player is waiting till his turn comes round in 
order to declare “ no trumps,” but his opponent 
declares it in front of him. What is he to do? 
Certainly he can double the “ no trump ” call, but 
this is a proceeding fraught with some danger, and 
also there is the chance of the declarer branching 
to two tricks in a red suit, which may be worse. 
Again, he can overcall it with “ Two No Trumps,” 
if he is strong enough, but to do this requires a 
very powerful hand indeed. Far more often it will 
happen that the holder of the better “ no trump ” 
hand has no alternative left to him but to sit quiet, 
and to act purely on the defensive. Very likely, 
if he has a really good hand, he will be able to 
defeat the call, and he may score 50, or even 100, 
points above the line; but this is but a poor 
compensation for being debarred from playing 
a good “ no trump ” hand, with a fair chance of 
winning the game. 

The “no trump” call is the very essence of 
Auction Bridge, and it has an increased value when 
made originally, by the dealer, before any of the 
other players have had the opportunity of declaring 
anything. A “ no trump ” call may mean so much, 
or so little. It may be a really strong call, or it 
may be an exceedingly weak one. It does not 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 75 

instil the same terror into the hearts of the 
opponents as it does at ordinary Bridge, but it is 
one which they will not be inclined to take any 
liberties with; and, above all, it is a declaration 
which is very rarely doubled. Do not forget that. 
It is a very important consideration. 

If either of the opponents has a strong red suit, 
he will, of course, declare that. But, in order to 
overcall “ One No Trump,” he will have to begin 
with “Two Hearts,” or “Two Diamonds,” and he 
may not be quite strong enough to do this without 
any indication from his partner. It is quite possible 
that considerable strength in one of the red suits 
may be divided between the two opposing hands, 
and that, if one of them had been able to call 
“ One Heart,” or “ One Diamond,” the other one 
could have backed him up with two, or even three, 
tricks in that suit, over a subsequent “ no trump ” 
call But the wind will rather have been taken out 
of their sails by the “ no trump ” call having come 
first, as they will not have been able to give one 
another the desired information, and the dealer is 
very likely to be left in with his declaration of 
“ One No Trump,” on which he cannot come to 
much harm, even if he does no great good. 

There is yet another great advantage in the 
“no trump” call by the dealer, and that is that 
the fourth player will not have been able to 
show his partner which suit to open. Perhaps he 
may hold five or six clubs, headed by ace, king, 
and if that suit was opened at first he would 


76 AUCTION PRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

win four or five tricks in it; but, as he has had 
no opportunity of showing his strength, his partner 
will be quite in the dark, and can only open his 
own best suit, which may be a very moderate one. 
An original M no trump ” call shuts out black suit 
declarations altogether, and only leaves the two 
red suits open to the opponents. 

Failing a possible “ no trump ” call, if the dealer 
has a good red suit, such as he would consider 
a strong declaration as dealer at ordinary Bridge, 
he should open the bidding with a call of one 
trick in that suit. He should go even further 
than that, and should declare a red suit on less 
strength than he would at ordinary Bridge, pro- 
vided that he has high cards at the head of it 

Therein lies the difference between the two 
games. Auction Bridge is a game of aces and 
kings, not of numerical strength. Ace, king, and 
two others of either hearts or diamonds, is quite 
a good opening call for the dealer; but such a 
suit as six to the ten is a very bad opening call, 
and one that is only likely to lead to disaster. 

When the dealer makes a suit declaration at 
ordinary Bridge, he does so with one object — to 
ensure that suit being trumps. When he makes 
a suit declaration at Auction Bridge, he should 
have two objects in view — either to play the hand 
with the trump suit which he has selected, or to 
help his partner to give the hand a greater 
value by declaring “no trumps.” It therefore 
follows that the information to give a partner, the 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 77, 

information which is likely to be of use to him, 
is that one can command a certain suit — that one 
holds high cards in it; not that one has numerical 
strength, which will be of no use with a “no trump” 
declaration, unless the high cards of it are in the 
partner’s own hand. 

When the dealer has a really strong red suit, 
one on which he will be quite prepared to declare 
two, or even three, tricks if he is pushed to it, 
his best policy is to declare “Two Hearts,” or 
“Two Diamonds,” as an opening call; not to begin 
with “One Heart,” or “ One Diamond,” and to wait 
to be overcalled. 

The value of this original call is not yet fully 
recognised, and it is by no means a common call, 
but it is certain to come into more general use 
with increased experience. It has just the same 
merits as the original call of “One No Trump.” 
It prevents the opponents from giving one another 
any information about their hands. It shuts out 
black suit declarations altogether, and also (which 
is a much greater merit) it puts an effectual stop 
to the tentative “ One No Trump ” call. 

There is all the difference in the world between 
a doubtful call of “One No Trump” and a risky 
call of ‘*Two No Trumps.” “One No Trump” 
is frequently called on the flimsiest of pretexts, 
merely as a means of bidding the opponents up 
and seeing what they can do. It is not likely to 
be doubled ; and, as we said before, it can do little 
harm even if it does no great good “Two No 


78 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

Trumps” is quite a different matter. To declare 
“Two No Trumps” on a dpubtful hand, with a 
strong suit declared against you, is a very dan- 
gerous proceeding. The “ Two No Trumps ” call 
is very likely to be doubled, and serious loss may 
ensue. For this reason alone, apart from other 
considerations, the original call of two tricks in a 
red suit is an extremely useful one — simply be- 
cause it deprives the opponents of that most useful 
form of attack, the “One No Trump” call. 

Card players, like the world in general, are apt 
to fly from one extreme to the other. At one time 
no one ever opened the bidding with a red suit 
call. It was not considered good play to do so. 
Now, under the altered conditions, the boot is 
rather on the other leg, and some players are in the 
habit of making original red suit declarations on 
quite inadequate strength. Their theory is that 
they like to show their partner what they have got, 
without any unnecessary delay. This theory is 
quite sound provided that they have real strength 
in the declared suit — provided that they can really 
command that suit; but I strongly disapprove of an 
original red suit declaration on such strength as 
five to the knave, or five to the queen. It may 
prove useful once in a while, but far more often it 
will lead to trouble. The danger does not lie in 
the original call being doubled, or defeated ; it lies 
in the wrong information vouchsafed to the partner. 
He will at once credit the declarer with the com- 
mand of the declared suit, and he will regulate his 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 79 

own declaration on that assumption. When he 
finds that he has been deceived, not only will there 
probably be some present loss, but his future 
confidence in his partner’s declarations will be 
severely shaken; and confidence between partners 
is of supreme importance at Auction Bridge. 

When the dealer has high cards in a red suit, 
such as ace and king, or king and queen^ or even 
queen, knave, ten . to six, he should declare one 
trick in that suit as an opening call; but never 
let him declare a red suit on mere numerical 
strength, unassisted by high cards. Numerical 
strength is an important factor in backing up a 
partner’s call, but as an original declaration it does 
not possess anything like the same value at Auction 
Bridge as it does at ordinary Bridge. 

A very useful original call by the dealer, and one 
quite peculiar to Auction Bridge, is “Two Spades,” 
when he has a really strong holding in the spade 
suit, with high cards at the head of it. There is a 
double object in this declaration — firstly, to invite 
his partner to declare “no trumps”; and secondly, 
to show his partner which suit to lead, in the case 
of “ no trumps ” being declared by the second 
player. /To justify this “Two Spades” declaration 
it is essential to hold the command of the suit. 
The ace and king, or at the very least the 
king and queen, at the head of the suit is a 
necessity. / 

Remember that it is a direct invitation to your 
partner to declare “ no trumps,” and that he will 


8o 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


inevitably do so on the smallest pretensions; there- 
fore it behoves you to be specially careful not to 
mislead him. If you call “Two Spades” because 
you have great numerical strength in spades, such 
as queen to six or seven, and your partner declares 
“ no trumps ” on the strength of your call, he will 
have very good cause for making unpleasant re- 
marks to you if things go wrong. As I said before, 
Auction Bridge is, from beginning to end, a game 
of aces and kings, as against numerical strength. 
An original call of “Two Spades” should never be 
made unless the spade suit can be established with 
the loss, at the very outside, of one trick. I have 
known a player begin with a call of “Three Spades,” 
holding ace, king, queen, knave and three others ; 
and a very sound call it was. 

There is a certain school of players who have 
a convention among themselves that an original 
call of “Two Spades” does not necessarily imply 
strength in the spade suit, but that it is made as 
a general invitation to the partner to declare “ no 
trumps” if he is strong enough, and as an indication 
that the dealer can offer considerable support. 
I can see no sort of sense. in this convention. If 
the dealer’s hand is such that he thinks a “no 
trump” call desirable, why not call it himself? An 
original “no trump” call by the dealer, now-a-days, 
means very little. It merely means that he has an 
average hand, or possibly a hand a little above the 
average. It does not imply any great strength. 
If he is going to wait, with a fair all-round hand, 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


81 


for his partner to declare “ no trumps,” it is quite 
likely that the second player will do so instead, and 
then all the sting is gone out of his hand. The 
time for the dealer to declare “Two Spades” is 
when he has pronounced strength in the spade suit, 
and very little else of value. 

The club declaration by the dealer is a rock on 
which many players come to grief. They will per- 
sist in beginning with “One Club” because they 
are weaker still in the spade suit There can be 
no greater mistake. The declaration of “One 
Spade ” is merely a negative one. It only means 
that the dealer passes — that he does not wish to 
declare anything. It does not mean that he has 
any strength, or even any protection, in the spade 
suit. On the other hand, a declaration of “One 
Club ” means, or ought to mean, very nearly the 
same as a declaration of “Two Spades.” It ought 
to mean that the dealer can at any rate safeguard, 
even if he cannot command, the club suit. When 
the dealer opens the bidding with a declaration of 
“One Club,” he practically says to his partner, 
“ I can take care of the clubs, so you need not be 
afraid of that suit in declaring ‘no trumps.’” It 
does not amount quite to the same invitation to 
declare “ no trumps ” as the call of “Two Spades ” 
does, but it comes very near it. It shows that the 
club suit is at any rate well protected. If the 
dealer has entire command of the club suit, he will 
call “Two Clubs,” but this amounts to the same 
thing as calling “ Three Spades.” 


82 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


The call of “Two Clubs” must not be con- 
founded with the call of “Two Spades.” In 
order to show strength in the spade suit, it is 
necessary to call “Two Spades,” because a call 
of “One Spade” means nothing; but a call of 
“One Club” does mean something. It means, or 
should mean, considerable strength in the club 
suit; and it is not necessary for the dealer to call 
“Two Clubs” in order to show that he can take 
care of that suit. A call of “One Club” is quite 
sufficient. I am not in favour of an original call 
of “Two Clubs” by the dealer, unless he has 
overwhelming strength in the suit, because it forces 
his partner up to two tricks in either hearts or 
diamonds in order to overcall him. Certainly, 
it forces the opponents up also, but the object of 
Auction Bridge is to make an aggressive call, 
and “Two Clubs” is not an aggressive call. No 
one is anxious to be left in to play a hand at 
“Two Clubs,” laying i2i to i on himself; and it 
is quite possible that, if the dealer’s partner cannot 
take him out, the opponents may also refuse to 
do so, and may leave him with his “Two Clubs” 
call, on which he can win nothing of value, but 
may lose a great deal. The call of “One Club” 
would have served the purpose equally well, and 
would not have been attended by the same danger. 

To sum up the whole matter — the best of all 
opening calls for the dealer is, unquestionably, 
“One No Trump.” This call is such a valuable one 
that it should be made on the lightest possible justifi- 
cation, but it must have some sort of justification. 


AUCTION BRIDGE Ur-TO-DATE. 83 

Much as I believe in the efficacy of the original 
**no trump” call, I do not believe in using it as 
a bluff, nor in making it almost blindfold, as 'is 
the manner of some. A player who follows those 
lines will very soon succeed in destroying every 
atom of confidence that his partner ever had in 
him, and then will ,come confusion and disjointed 
interests. 

An original “no trump” call should mean at 
least an average hand — that is, one ace, one king, 
one queen, one knave, etc., or their equivalents. 
If the dealer has greater strength than that, so 
much the better ; but that is about the minimum 
on which a “no trump” call by the dealer is 
advisable, or justifiable. . Even then it is consider- 
ably weaker than what is considered a justifiable 
call at ordinary Bridge. To declare “no trumps” 
on less strength than that is rather to invite 
trouble. A call of “One No Trump” is not often 
doubled, but it is doubled sometimes, and then, 
unless the dealer’s partner can take him out, 
there is likely to be serious trouble. 

Declare “no trumps” as dealer whenever you 
can reasonably do so, but do not overdo it. Do 
not depart from all reason, and make a call which 
you have no possible chance of carrying through 
with success. You may have no intention of 
going beyond “One No Trump,” whatever happens, 
but your partner will not know that, and he is quite 
likely to call “Two No Trumps” if he is guarded 
in the suit which is declared by the adversaries. 


84 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

As regards red suit declarations — the dealer 
should declare “ One Heart,” or “ One Diamond,” 
if he has five, or even four, of the suit, with two 
good honours at the head of it. Ace, king to four, 
or king, queen to five, is a sound and useful one- 
trick declaration ;Cbut queen and four small ones, 
or anything of that kind, is a bad and deceptive 
declaration, and should be religiously avoided by 
the dealer. When the dealer has a really strong 
red suit, slich as ace, king, knave to six, or king, 
queen, and four or five others, his best policy is 
to begin with “Two Hearts” or “Two Diamonds” 
straight away, so as to make it as difficult as 
possible for his opponents to overcall him. 

Let me say here that a good red suit declara- 
tion is at all times a far better opening than a 
doubtful “no trump” call. If the “no trump” 
call is a sound one, it is preferable to even a good 
red suit call, because you can afterwards branch 
to the red suit call if you wish to; but, if the 
“no trump” call is a weak one, you should always 
declare the red suit in preference to it — at any 
rate to begin with. 

“Two Spades” is a favourite call by the dealer, 
and often a very valuable one. It is a direct 
invitation to the partner to* declare “ no trumps,” 
and it is also useful as having a somewhat deter- 
rent effect upon the opponents, as regards their 
declaring “ no trumps.” 

The declaration of “Two Spades” should never 
be made without pronounced strength in the spade 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 85 

suit ; and by “pronounced strength,” I mean suffi- 
cient high cards to command the suit. Winning 
cards of other suits — say, good clubs as well as 
good spades — may influence the dealer in inviting 
his partner to call “ no trumps but an essential 
point about the call of “Two Spades” is that the 
spade suit itself should be well taken care of. 

A call of “ One Club ” ought to mean almost 
as much as a call of “Two Spades.” A call of 
“Two Clubs” should only be made when the 
dealer holds the entire command of the club suit. 
“ One Club ” is quite sufficient to show strength 
in clubs; there is no necessity for the dealer to 
call “Two Clubs,” although it is frequently done. 

Neither is there any necessity for the dealer to 
declare clubs at all, under any circumstances, 
unless he is very strong in the club suit. It will 
not be of the least assistance to his partner to 
know that his clubs are stronger than his spades, 
when both are weak. When the dealer is strong, 
or well protected, in clubs, the call of “One Club” 
is an extremely useful one. Holding ace, king, 
and one other club, or king, queen and two others, 
of king, knave to five, or any sort of protection 
of that kind, the dealer should declare “One Club” 
instead 'Of “One Spade,” if he cannot rise to 
anything better. What I want to emphasise is 
that it is ridiculous to call “One Club” on a 
weak hand, because the spades are weaker still. 
The call of “One Spade” has no reference what- 
ever to .strength or weakness in the spade suit 


86 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


When the dealer declares “One Spade,” it merely 
means that he elects to pass the declaration for 
the time being. It is tantamount to saying “I 
pass.” It does not imply any strength, in the 
spade suit, nor does it necessarily follow that he 
has a useless hand. It only means that he does 
not think it advisable to open the proceedings 
with an attacking declaration ; and as such, and 
as such only, must it be read. 

The dealer, more than any other player, ought 
to vary his methods of declaring as much as 
possible. Any stereotyped methods of opening 
the game is a mistake. There is no player easier 
to defeat than the one whose opening call of 
“One Spade” always means weakness, and whose 
opening call of “One No Trump” always means 
strength. The adversaries know at once what 
sort of hand is opposed to them, and can regulate 
their game accordingly. 

The dealer should never declare above the 
value of his hand, except with a “no trump” call ; 
but it will pay him well to occasionally declare 
below it. A clever player recently held the 
following hand as dealer: — 

4 7,4 

^9 (None) 

* 3, 3 

0 A, K, Q, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2 

Nine players out of ten would have opened 
with “Two Diamonds.” Not so our friend. He 


AUCTION P, RIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


87 


declared “One Spade.” The second player called 
“Two Clubs,” the third player “Two Hearts,” 
and the fourth “Two No Trumps.” There was 
a chance. The dealer doubled the “Two No 
Trumps,” and made his nine diamonds, winning 
400 points above the line. The cards were rather 
curiously divided: — 


♦ 10,9,8,2 

7 K, Qn, 10, 7, 6, 3 

♦ Knave, 6, 5 

<> (None) 


♦ 3 

7 Knave, 8, 5,4 

♦ A, K,Q, 10,9,4 

0 8,3 


♦ 7,4 
7 < No,,e I 

♦ 8,3 

0 A, K, Q, 9, 7, 6, 5 , 4, 2 



♦ A,K,Q,Kv,6,5 
7 Ace, 9, 2. 

♦ 7,2 

7 Knave, 10 


If the dealer had begun with “Two Diamonds,” 
his partner would probably have called “Two 
Hearts,” and he would then have had to call 
“ Three Diamonds,” which he would just have got. 
He would have scored 18, and 24 for honours, 
instead of 400, less 30 for aces. When the hand 
was over, one of the opponents, possibly somewhat 
annoyed at the turn which affairs had taken, said, 



88 ' 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


“ That is all very well. It came off that time, but 
suppose you had been left with your ‘One Spade ’ 
call. What a fool you would have looked ! ” One 
can make allowances for a little natural irritation, 
but not for such ignorance of the game as that 
remark evinced. There were thirteen hearts to be 
divided among the other three hands, and four 
honours in each black suit. How was it possible 
that the call would be left at “One Spade ” ? This 
was an occasion on which it was absolutely safe to 
adopt a waiting policy. 

The practice of concealing one’s strength in 
order to try to score off the opponents is now out 
of fashion. It is rarely done under the present 
conditions, but it is done occasionally, and it 
succeeds more often than it used to, because 
players are not looking out for it now-a-days. It 
is quite a useful weapon to keep in reserve, and 
the results of it are sometimes very pleasing, as 
the above hand tends to prove. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


89 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE SECOND PLAYER. 

I have already said, in the last chapter, that a 
complete revolution in the methods of declaring 
at Auction Bridge has been caused by the limita- 
tion of the loss on the “One Spade” declaration.. 
This applies solely to the first round of the call, 
and it applies more strongly to the second player 
than to anybody else. The new law has altered 
the aspect of the game so entirely, from the point 
of view of the second player, that I have been 
constrained to re-write this chapter altogether, and 
to write it on quite different lines. 

While the dealer’s liability, on his opening call 
of “One Spade,” was unlimited, it was not only 
undesirable, but also very bad play, for the second 
player to help him out of his enforced responsi- 
bility by making a higher call. In my earlier book 
I laid great stress on that point. I advocated, 
as strongly as I possibly could, the advisability 
of leaving the dealer in with his black suit call, 
whereby he was laying long odds on himself, until 
it was proved that either he or his partner could 
get out of it That was good sound advice under 
the conditions obtaining at that time. 


go AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

Now, under the new conditions, the situation is 
entirely altered. If the dealer and his partner 
should both have bad hands, they will simply avail 
themselves of the refuge offered to them, and will 
accept the loss of 100 points above the line, which, 
although it is not a thing to be desired, is by no 
means fataL 

This refuge offered to the dealer must necessarily 
alter the tactics of the second player. If the dealer 
and his partner have bad hands, it follows that the 
second player and his partner must have corre- 
spondingly good ones ; and therefore their policy 
is not to lie low and to score a maximum of ioo 
points, but rather to strike out for themselves, and 
to- try to win the game, or at any rate to make a 
good score. 

The declaration by the second player must 
depend a great deal upon what the dealer has 
said. A declaration of “One Spade” by the dealer 
is, to a certain extent, a confession of weakness. 
It does not necessarily mean that he has a hopeless, 
or even a very bad, hand; but it does mean that 
he has not got a possible “no trump” call, nor a 
strong red suit, nor great strength in either spades 
or clubs. The second player has then some- 
thing to go upon. He knows something about 
the dealer’s hand, although that something is of 
a negative nature ; but negative knowledge is better 
than none at all. 

The value of the “no trump” call comes in 
again here. Again “ One No Trump ” is the best 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 9 1 

of all calls which can be made, provided that there 
is any reasonable justification for it. The second 
player is even in a better position than the dealer 
to declare “ One No Trump ” on a guarded hand, 
because he knows that one at least of the two 
hands against him is not a powerful one. He 
should declare “One No Trump” on the faintest 
semblance of what he would consider a sound 
“no trump” hand at ordinary Bridge, and then 
wait for further developments. * If the third player 
overcalls him with two tricks in a red suit, he can 
retire from the contest. He will at least have 
achieved something, by forcing the third player 
up to a two-trick call. 

If the second player has a sound call in a red 
suit, he should declare that in preference to a 
doubtful “ no trump.” Exactly the same argu- 
ments, with respect to a red suit call, apply in the 
case of the second player as in the case of the 
dealer. If he has high cards in the declared suit, 
it is always a sound call ; but, just as in the case of 
the dealer, a call on numerical strength, without 
high cards at the head of the suit, cannot be any- 
thing but a dangerous and misleading one. 

There are certain players who, at ordinary 
Bridge, cannot bear to pass the declaration with 
five hearts in their hand, whatever may be the value 
of them. This class of player is dangerous enough 
as a partner at ordinary Bridge, but he is far more 
dangerous at Auction Bridge. You can never 
depend upon his declaration, and dependence upon 


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AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


a partner is half the battle. He will jump in gaily, 
and declare “One Heart” on five to the knave, 
and then, when you have loyally backed him up, 
you find that his declaration was utterly unjustifi- 
able. What are you to do next time? It is not 
the first loss which matters so much. It is the fact 
that all your confidence in him will be gone, and 
that, next time, you will be inclined to sit tight, and 
to trust only to the cards in your own hand. 

To return to the tactics of the second player. 
When the dealer has opened with “One Spade,” 
if the second player is strong in the spade suit, but 
not strong enough to declare “no trumps,” he 
should double the “ One Spade ” call. This again, 
like the declaration of “Two Spades” by the 
dealer, is an invitation to the partner to declare 
“no trumps.” It says, quite plainly, “I can take 
care of the spade suit, so do not be afraid of that.” 
Once more let me say, at the risk of seeming to 
repeat myself, that a leading declaration of this 
kind should never be made on numerical strength 
alone. It is absolutely necessary that the suit 
should be commanded — that there should be high 
cards at the head of it in the doubler’s hand. The 
number held is quite immaterial, provided that the 
suit can be stopped two or three times. The object 
of the second player, in doubling a declaration of 
“ One Spade ” by the dealer, is not to enhance the 
value of each trick on the spade declaration. No- 
body supposes that the hand is going to be played 
at “One Spade” doubled. The object is to inform 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 93 

his partner that he commands the spade suit, with 
a view to a “ no trump ” declaration ; and, at the 
same time, to show his partner which suit to 
lead, in case the third player should declare 
“no trumps.” 

Some players, especially beginners at the game, 
declare “Two Spades” over an original call of 
“ One Spade,” instead of doubling the original call. 
This is a mistake. The object is the same, and the 
result is also the same, if the partner happens to 
have a good hand. But suppose that he has a bad 
hand, what is going to happen then ? The liability 
on a call of “One Spade” is limited, but the 
liability on a call of “Two Spades” is unlimited. 
It is quite possible that the opponents may leave 
the second player with his call of “Two Spades,” 
and why should he voluntarily put himself into a 
position of some danger, when it can be so easily 
avoided? The double of the “One Spade” call 
would have served his purpose equally well, and 
would have left the liability, although a smaller 
one, with his' opponents instead of with himself. 
If it should happen that the second player is very 
strong indeed in spades — say that he holds ace, king, 
queen to six or seven — his best plan is to declare 
“ Three Spades,” even without another possible 
trick in his hand. This leaves no sort of doubt 
about the situation ; he is clearly marked with the 
entire command of the spade suit. Certainly his 
hand is not worth nine tricks, but that is not 
the object of the call. The object is to give 


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AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE, 


valuable information to bis partner, and it is a 
declaration which he is very unlikely to be left 
with, and on which he is still more unlikely to 
be doubled. 

A call of “ One Club ” by the dealer should also 
be doubled by the second player, if he can com- 
mand the club suit, provided, of course, that he is 
not in a position to make a more valuable declara- 
tion. The original club declaration is one that is 
very imperfectly understood, and it is frequently 
made on quite inadequate strength. It ought to 
mean that the dealer can take good care of the 
club suit, but it does not always mean as much as 
that. This call is often made, by irresponsible 
players, because they are very weak in spades. 
Suppose that the second player holds ace, queen, 
and two other clubs, or ace, knave, ten, and another: 
he should always double an original call of “ One 
Club,” in order to show his partner that he need 
not be afraid of that suit. Not only may this 
double be very useful to the fourth player, but it 
will also tend to handicap the third player. He 
may have been prepared to declare “One No 
Trump,” after his partner’s opening call of “ One 
Club,” but the double of the “ One Club ” call will 
pull him up short, and will very likely induce him 
to alter his tactics. Any information, of any kind, 
which the second player can give his partner is well 
worth giving, and that is what he should go for, 
rather than for making an attacking declaration 
himself, unless he has a really good hand. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


95 


When the dealer opens with a call of “Two 
Spades,” the second player must say something if 
he possibly can. It is now of supreme importance 
for him to show his partner his best suit, as a 
“no trump” call by the third player is more than 
likely, in which case his partner will have to make 
the opening lead. If he has a good red suit, he 
should declare two tricks in it, not one trick, so 
as to shut out the “One No Trump” call by the 
third player. This call of “One No Trump” is 
such a strong weapon in the bidding at Auction 
Bridge that it must always be guarded against as 
much as possible. A player will declare “One No 
Trump” on very moderate strength, as a purely 
tentative measure, but he will not declare “Two 
No Trumps ” to start with, without assured strength 
in his hand. 

It is of great importance, in making any decla- 
ration, to consider how the opponents are likely 
to reply to it. If the obvious and likely reply 
is “One No Trump,” then a declaration which 
shuts out the call of “One No Trump” has a 
greatly increased value. 

When the dealer has called “Two Spades,” a 
call of “Two Clubs” by the second player is 
a very useful one. It does not shut out the 
“One No Trump” call by the third player, but 
it takes a great deal of the sting out of the 
dealer’s call of “Two Spades,” and the third 
player will not be likely to declare “no- trumps” 
unless he is himself guarded in the club suit. 


g6 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

When the second player has a moderately good 
red suit — not perhaps a suit on which he would 
make an original attacking declaration, but one 
which it is important to have opened at once 
against a “no trump” declaration — he should 
declare one trick in that suit over a call of “Two 
Spades” by the dealer. This call does not show 
any great strength. It is merely an indication 
given to the partner as to which suit to open, 
and it will be taken as meaning that, and only 
that, by an intelligent partner. If the second 
player passes the call of “Two Spades” by the 
dealer, he knows that a call of “One No Trump” 
by the third player is imrtiinent, and therefore it 
behoves him to make an effort. If he is not in 
a position to prevent the “One No Trump” call, 
he ought to stretch a point in order to show his 
partner which suit to open. 

When the dealer has opened with a call of one 
trick in a red suit, the second player should over- 
call him if he can do so with safety, but he should 
run no risks. If he is guarded in the declared 
suit, and has moderate strength in other suits, he 
should declare “One No Trump;” but it is dan- 
gerous to do this on anything short of a very strong 
hand, without a guard in the declared suit. The 
danger does not lie so much in the chance of his 
“One No Trump” call being doubled — although 
that danger does exist — as in the chance of his 
partner backing him up by calling “Two No 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 97 

Trumps” over a subsequent declaration of two 
tricks in the declared suit ; and then there is likely 
to be serious trouble. 

When the second player calls “One No Trump” 
over a suit declaration, his partner is quite justified 
in crediting him with a guard in the declared suit, 
and this fact should always be borne in mind. 
There is no more fruitful cause of disaster at 
Auction Bridge than this. “ One Heart ” says the 
dealer. “ One No Trump ” says the second player 
gaily, with no sort of protection in the heart suit. 
He does it solely with the object of pushing his 
opponents up to “Two Hearts,” but his partner 
cannot be expected to guess that; so, having a 
fairly good hand himself outside hearts, he goes 
“Two No Trumps,” and they get doubled, and 
lose 300 or 400 points, and then each blames the 
other for what was entirely the second player’s 
fault. I do not say that the second player should 
never call “One No Trump ” over a suit declara- 
tion without protection in the suit declared. If 
he has a really good “no trump” hand outside 
the declared suit, he should certainly do so. The 
danger of his partner backing him up disappears 
altogether under those conditions, and the call is 
quite a sound one. The practice which 1 do 
disapprove of, is for the second player to declare 
“One No Trump” on a very moderate hand, as 
a sort of bluff, simply with the object of raising 
the dealer’s call, and without any protection in 
the suit which the dealer has declared. 


H 


98 AUQTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

When the dealer has declared “ One Heart ” or 
“One Diamond,” the call of “Two Clubs” is a 
very useful one for, the second player. It has the 
effect of forcing his opponents up to two tricks 
in their declaration, it indicates strength in the 
club suit to his partner, and it is very unlikely to 
be doubled or to come to much harm. 

When the dealer begins with “One Diamond,” 
the second player should always overcall him with 
“ One Heart,” if he has a, justifiable heart call — • 
that is to say, a call which he would have made 
originally as dealer. 

Thi c is obviously quite sound; but it is very 
unsound, and very b^d play, for the second player 
to make a weak call of “ One Heart ” simply with 
the object of putting his opponents up to “Two 
Diamonds.” Here, again, the danger does not lie 
in the “One Heart” call, but in the probability 
of the fourth player supporting it by declaring 
“Two Hearts,” or even “Three Hearts,” or per- 
haps calling “Two No Trumps,” trusting his partner 
for the heart suit. There is nothing terrible about 
a call of “One Diamond” or “One Heart.” 

Supposing the score to be love-all it is not 
probable that the opponents will win the game 
on their red suit call ; and moreover, if there is 
any chance of their winning the game, you may 
be quite sure that they will not hesitate to go up 
to two or three tricks, and nothing will have been 
gained by raising their call 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 99 

When the opponents are already 24 up, so that 
one trick in a red suit will win them the game, 
there is some sense in the second player stretching a 
point in order to overbid an original call of “One 
Heart” or “One Diamond”; but with the score 
at love-all, the second player should pass a call 
of one trick in a red suit, unless he can overcall 
it to a manifest advantage. 

We now come to the call of “One No Trump” 
by the dealer. This is not only a very common 
call, but also a very important one I have 
already said that this is a call which should be 
made, and which is constantly made, by the dealer 
on quite inadequate grounds from the Bridge 
player’s point of view. The second player should 
bear this fact in mind, and must never be frightened 
by an original call of “One No Trump”; but, at 
the same time, it behoves him to treat it with 
some respect It may mean little, or it may mean 
much. It may be merely a tentative call, but ,at 
any rate it means that the dealer has a hand of 
some value — that, at least, is a certainty. A 
knowledge of the dealer’s method of declaring is 
a strong factor in estimating the significance of 
an original “no trump” call. . Some players declare 
“One No Trump,” as dealer, almost blindfold, 
other players are much more conservative; con- 
sequently, knowing to which school the dealer 
belongs will be of great assistance to the second 
player in dealing with the “no trump” declaration. 

H 2 


IOO AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

it sometimes happens that the second player 
has a good “no trump” hand himself, and he is 
in a great quandary what to do when the dealer 
takes the bread out of his mouth by declaring 
“One No Trump” in front of him. There are 
three courses open to him. He can overcall 
it with “Two No Trumps,” or he can double, 
or he can simply pass, and hope to score something 
above the line, being quite assured' that his oppo- 
nents will not win the game. To declare “ Two 
No Trumps” over an adverse call of “One No 
Trump ” is an extreme measure. It is sometimes 
done, but it rarely pans out well. If the third 
player has anything like a useful hand, he will 
inevitably double, and then the second player’s 
strong position turns into a very precarious one. 
This call is only justifiable when it is of supreme 
importance to win the game, and even then it is 
doubtful whether the double is not the better 
policy. Any hand which admits of a call of “Two 
No Trumps” must of necessity be a doubling 
hand against a declaration 6f “One No Trump”; 
but doubling is attended by one danger. The 
opponents may get out of their difficulty by 
branching to two tricks in a red suit. If the 
second player is also prepared to double a decla- 
ration of two tricks in either red suit, he should 
unhesitatingly double “One No Trump,” as in 
that case, if his opponents branch, they will be 
jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire ; but 
this will very rarely happen. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


IOL 


The best course of all for the second player is to 
declare “Two Hearts,” or “Two Diamonds,” if he 
can possibly do so. Then, if either of his oppo- 
nents should call “Two No Trumps,” he has them 
in a cleft stick, and can double to the greatest 
advantage. Failing these conditions, if he cannot 
declare two tricks in a red suit himself, and is 
not sure to defeat a similar call by his adver- 
saries, he had far better sit tight, and leave the 
dealer to struggle with his “no trump” call as 
best he can. 

When the dealer has declared “One No Trump,” 
and the second plaver has great strength in clubs 
— say ace, king, queen to six or more — never let 
him be tempted to call “Three Clubs.” To do so 
is simply to give away the whole show. There is no 
possible chance of the opponents declaring “Two 
No Trumps” with the whole club suit marked 
against them. They will either branch to a red 
suit, or leave the second player in with his “ Three 
Clubs,” on which he can win nothing of any value, 
even if he gets his contract, which is by no means 
certain. This is a mistake which has been fre- 
quently made, and it is a bad mistake. Neither 
should the second player dream of doubling “ One 
No Trump,” however many winning clubs he may 
hold. He should simply pass, and pray that the 
declaration may be left at “One No Trump.” 

If the second player has a really strong red suit, 
such as ace, king, queen to five, or ace, king, or 
king, queen to six, he should always call two tricks 


102 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

in that suit over a declaration of “One No Trump.” 
But he should remember that he, and not his 
partner, will have the first lead, and that, therefore, 
there is no object in indicating his suit to his 
partner. The only reason for this declaration is, 
or ought to be, a desire to play the hand with the 
declared suit as trumps. I strongly disapprove of 
the common practice of declaring “Two Hearts,” 
or “Two Diamonds,” on a moderate hand, with 
the sole object of putting the opponents up to 
“Two No Trumps.” It is simply giving them an 
option to nothing. If they are strong enough to 
call “Two No Trumps,” they will do so, and will 
probably get it; or they may elect to double th6 
weak red suit call, in which case there is likely to 
be serious trouble. 

There seems to be a very prevalent idea that it 
is the duty of the second player to raise the dealer’s 
call, if he can possibly do so ; but this idea is an 
entirely erroneous one. The ambition to bid the 
dealer up to two tricks in whatever declaration he 
may have made is certainly a laudable ambition, 
provided that there is any chance of defeating such 
declaration when it has been bidden up. That is 
the point which so many players miss — whether 
there is any chance of defeating the higher call. 
If the second player can see that chance, or any 
possibility of it, then let him run a considerable 
amount of risk in his endeavour to force the dealer 
up. He has then something definite to go for. 
On the other hand, what sense can there be in 


AUCTION ERIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


103 

making a risky call, in order to force the dealer up, 
when there is no possible chance of defeating him 
after he has been forced up? As I said before, it 
only amounts to giving the dealer an option to 
nothing, and this can never be anything but very 
bad play. 

The second player, if only he would recognise 
the fact, is really in a fine position. The dealer is 
obliged to make a declaration of some kind, but 
there is no such obligation upon the second player. 
He can simply pass the opening call, if he wishes 
to do so, and wait for further developments; and 
this should be his policy in the majority of cases. 
If he can overbid the dealer with any sound call, 
he will naturally do so, but it is only foolhardi- 
ness to make a thoroughly unsound call with the 
sole object of overbidding the dealer’s declaration, 
especially when that declaration is “ One No 
Trump.” I know that it is constantly done, and 
done by men who are supposed to be good players, 
but it is not a paying game for all that. The risk 
is too great, and the gain is too small. Such players 
will overcall a declaration of “ One No Trump ” on 
queen, ten to five hearts, or on five diamonds 
headed by ace, knave. What can be gained by it ? 
There is no object in showing the suit to their 
partner, as they will have the first lead themselves. 
If the dealer has a good hand, he goes “Two No 
Trumps,” and gets it; if not, he leaves the second 
player in with his “Two Hearts,” or his “Two 
Diamonds”; and what chance can there be of 


104 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


winning eight tricks on such a hand, with a “ no 
trump ” call against it ? 

A desire to take part in the conversation may be, 
and undoubtedly is, a most amiable trait in a per- 
son’s character. It is highly to be commended in 
general society, at the dinner table, in a lady’s 
drawing-room, at a Suffragette meeting, or possibly 
in the present House of Commons ; but — IT IS 
NOT A REASON FOR MAKING A DECLA- 
RATION AT AUCTION BRIDGE. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


io 5 


CHAPTER V. 

THE THIRD PLAYER. 

By the time that the declaration reaches the 
third player, the game will have begun to develop 
itself. The dealer and the second player will each 
have said their say, so that the third player will 
have some material to work upon. He will not 
be so much in the dark as either of the other 
two, but will be certain to have been able to derive 
some information, either positive or negative, from 
the previous declarations which have been made. 

Let us begin with his partner’s declaration. An 
opening call of “One Spade”' by the dealer is, 
under the present conditions, to a certain extent 
a confession of weakness. As the game is played 
at the present time, there is but little of the lying 
low with a good hand which used to obtain in 
the early days of Auction Bridge, 

Fashions have altered at Auction Bridge, as in 
most other things. The fashion now-a-days is for 
the dealer to make any attacking call of which his 
hand is capable, without any preliminary finessing. 

Consequently, when the dealer declares “One 
Spade,” his partner reads him at once with no 
attacking call in his hand ; and, further than that, 


106 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

with no pronounced strength in either black suit, 
otherwise he would have called “Two Spades,” or 
“One Club.” It does, not follow that he has a 
very bad hand; it simply means that he does not 
consider his hand strong enough to open up the 
game with a valuable call. He may have quite 
a useful assisting hand, although it is not an 
attacking one. 

The significance of the “ One Spade ” call varies 
enormously with different players. Some players 
will always declare “One Spade” on a hand with 
which others would not hesitate to declare “One 
No Trump.” In this respect, as in most others 
at Auction Bridge, a knowledge of a partner’s 
idiosyncrasies is of great value. 

When the dealer has declared “One Spade,” 
and the second player has passed, the third player 
should make any higher call which his hand admits 
of; but he should not spread himself too much, 
as he knows that his partner’s hand is, at best, a 
moderate one. A call of “ One Nb Trumrp,” if his 
hand justifies it at all, is the best way out of his diffi- 
culty ; but for this call he ought to have something 
approaching a genuine “ no trump ” hand. 

It is dangerous for the third player, when his 
partner has called “One Spade,” to make a very 
sketchy “no trump” declaration, as this will be 
doubled much more readily than an original “no 
trump” ball by the dealer, and it may lead to 
serious loss. Good and valuable as the “no 
trump ” call is, it may be carried to excess. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. I07 

If the third player has a bad or a moderate 
hand, on which he can make no sound call, he 
should pass the “ One Spade ” call, and accept the 
almost fcertain loss of ioo points if his opponents 
elect to leave it at “ One Spade.” As a matter of 
fact, they very rarely do so. When the call of “ One 
Spade” comes round to the fourth player, he nearly 
always declares “ One No Trump,” in the hope of 
winning the game. The third player should bear 
this in mind — namely, that a “no trump” declara- 
tion is looming over him ; and, if he is able to 
give his partner any indication as to which suit 
to lead against the “ no trump ” call, he ought 
to do so — say, by calling “One Club” or “Two 
Spades.” 

The old theory, or convention, no longer exists 
whereby it was incumbent upon the third player, 
having a bad hand, to take his partner out of a 
call of “One Spade” by calling “Two Spades.” 
This convention is numbered with other relics of 
the past. A call of “Two Spades” now means 
that the third player is strong in spades himself, 
and is not afraid of being left with the spade 
call. There is not the smallest obligation on the 
third player to take his partner out of his original 
call unless he thinks it advisable to do so. 

Even when the “One Spade” call is doubled 
by the second player, the position remains the 
same. There is no more obligation on the third 
player to relieve his partner of the double, but 
rather less, as the dealer will now have the oppor- 


IO$ 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


tunity of coming in again, and of making a further 
declaration himself, if he wishes to. The doubling 
6f the spade declaration does not increase the 
liability; it still remains at a maximum of ioo 
points, and it is that fact which has caused such 
a revolution in the accepted methods of declaring. 

A declaration by the dealer of “Two Spades,” 
or “Two Clubs,” and, to a lesser extent, a declara- 
tion of “ One Club,” amounts to a direct invitation 
to the third player to declare “ no trumps,” and it 
should always be regarded as meaning that. 

It does not mean that the third player should 
declare a wild “ no trump,” simply on what he 
hopes to find in his partner’s hand. If that were 
all that was required, the dealer could make the 
declaration himself. 

An original declaration of “Two Spades” means 
that the third player is entitled to add at least two 
tricks in the spade suit to the value of his own 
hand ; and if his hand, with that addition, would 
warrant a “no trump” call, he ought to declare 
“One No Trump.” As an example of what I 
mean, suppose that the dealer has opened with a 
call of “Two Spades,” the second player has 
passed, and the third player holds — 

♦ 7, 5 

V King. 10, 9, 4 

4* Ace, Knave, 8, 3 

0 8, 7, 6 

This cannot be described as a sound “no trump” 
call, even at Auction Bridge ; but if you add the ace 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. IO9 

and king of spades to it, or rather substitute the ace 
and king for the seven and five, it at once becomes 
quite a strong call. That is what the call of 
“Two Spades” really amounts to. 

I am told that, at certain places where Auction 
Bridge is played, the call of “Two Spades” does 
not necessarily imply strength in the spade suit, 
but is made as a general invitation to the third 
player to declare “no trumps.” If there is an es- 
tablished convention to this effect, known and 
agreed to by all the players at the table, all well 
and good Different sets of players can, of course, 
arrange among themselves any conventions that 
they please, provided that everyone knows about 
them; but they cannot apply them with success 
outside their own circle. Such a convention as 
this must necessarily be an arbitrary one. It 
could never be evolved from rational methods of 
play, as it does not bear looking into. If the dealer 
has such a good all-round hand that he wishes for 
a “no trump” declaration, why should he not de- 
clare it himself? The accepted meaning of the 
original call of “Two Spades,” apart from any 
special conventions, is that the dealer has pro- 
nounced strength in the spade suit, and very little 
strength outside it 

The most important phase in the tactics of the 
third player arises when his partner, the dealer, has 
declared “ One No Trump,” and the second player 
has passed. It by no means follows that the third 
player should also pass, and leave his partner ia 


no 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


If he has a hand which will render general as- 
sistance to the “ no trump 55 call, he will, naturally, 
leave it at that It will often happen, however, that 
he has considerable strength in one of the red suits, 
and very little else of value. In this case, it is 
somewhat difficult for him to decide which is his 
best policy, whether to overcall his partner with 
“Two Hearts,” or “Two Diamonds,” or to leave it 
at “One No Trump.” If his red suit is a really 
strong one, there can be no doubt about it — he 
should not hesitate to overcall his partner. 

He must never be influenced by any fancied 
reluctance to take the call away from his partner; 
there is no greater fallacy. It does not amount to 
taking the call away from his partner, and it must 
by no means be construed as doing so. He is 
simply giving his partner information, and he says, 
in plain Auction Bridge language, “ I have a good 
suit in hearts, or in diamonds (as the case may be), 
and very little else ; so, unless your ‘ no trump * is 
quite a sound one, you had better leave the matter 
in my hands.” An intelligent partner will grasp 
the situation at once, and will act as he thinks best 
If he calls “Two No Trumps,” the third player must 
abide by that decision, and say no more ; and the 
winning of the game ought to be nearly a certainty. 

If, on the contrary, the dealer’s “no trump” call 
was a light one, he will probably be only too pleased 
to accept the alternative which has been offered to 
him, and again the result ought to be a useful 
score. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP TO-DATE. Ill 


That is all quite plain and easy when the third 
player’s suit is a strong one ; but sometimes his suit 
will be a very moderate one, and that is when the 
difficulty comes in. Let us suppose that the dealer 
has declared “One No Trump,” the second player 
has passed, and the third player holds such a hand 
as 

♦ 8, 7, 2 

^ Queen, Knave, 8, 6, 2 

4> Knave, 9, 4 

0 10,5 

What is he to do with this hand ? It is a 
desperately weak hand on which to declare “ Two 
Hearts,” but it is still worse as an assistance to a 
“no trump” call. Unless the dealer has a really 
good hand the “no trump” call is certain to be 
defeated. Therefore, as it is always wise to, choose 
the lesser of two evils, the third player should 
declare “Two Hearts” on the above hand; not 
with any hope of making a good score, but as the 
best chance of escaping loss. If the dealer has a 
sound “ no trump ” call, well guarded in the other 
suits, he will declare “ Two No Trumps,” and will 
perhaps be glad to know that the heart suit is taken 
care of by his partner. 

It should be clearly understood that a declaration 
of “Two Hearts,” or of “Two Diamonds,” over a 
partner’s call of “ One No Trump,” is not an indi- 
cation of strength, but is rather an indication of 
great weakness outside the declared suit. It says, 
in plain and unmistakable language, “My hand 


1 1 2 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


will be of no use to you, except in the one suit 
which I have declared/' If the partner then elects 
to call “Two No Trumps,” he does so with his 
eyes open, and he cannot say afterwards that he 
was given false information, if things should happen 
to go wrong. 

This question of the third player overcalling his 
partner — and it is one of the most important ques- 
tions in the whole of Auction Bridge — really turns 
on the value attaching to the original call by the 
dealer. If the original “no trump” call was always 
a sound one, if it could be thoroughly depended 
upon, there would rarely be any need for the third 
player to interfere with it ; but it is sometimes a 
very unsound one. The “no trump” call by the 
dealer is such an extremely valuable one (as was 
explained in Chapter III.), that it is frequently 
made on very insufficient material. Some players 
even carry the principle to a ridiculous point, and 
declare “ One No Trump,” as dealer, almost blind- 
fold. Consequently, with this uncertainty attaching 
to the call, the third player should always make an 
alternative declaration in a red suit, if he is in a 
position to do so, unless his hand will render 
general assistance to the “no trump” call. He 
need not be guarded in every suit — that is too 
much to expect — but, unless he has good assistance 
in one other suit, or better still in two, his best 
policy is to declare two tricks in either red suit in 
which he has moderate strength— such as five with 
two honours, or six with one honour — rather than 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 113 

to leave his partner in with an uncertain “ no 
trump ” call. 

The same principle applies when the dealer has 
made an original suit declaration. If the third 
player can offer no assistance in the declared suit, 
but has a possible “no trump” hand with that suit 
taken care of, he should overcall his partner with 
“ One No Trump.” It is quite open to the dealer 
to overcall this again with two tricks in his own 
suit ; and, if he does so, the third player should 
abide by his partner’s decision, unless he has a 
very strong hand indeed of his own. The dealer 
has doubtless got some good reason for preferring 
the less valuable declaration. It will either be 
because his own suit is a very strong one, or be- 
cause his hand will be of little use with a “no 
trump ” declaration. 

No harm can possibly result from this over 
calling. The third player simply offers his partner 
the alternative, and it remains with his partner to 
accept it or to ignore it. 

Again, when the dealer makes an original dia- 
mond declaration, the third hand should overcall 
it, if he has a very strong hand in hearts, as the 
heart declaration is worth more than the diamond. 
If the dealer overcalls again, the third player should 
retire and give his partner credit for knowing what 
he is about. He has said his say, and if his partner 
elects to take the matter into his own hands, he 
probably has a very good reason for doing so. In 
quite the early days of Auction Bridge, some 
1 


1 14 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

players used rather to resent being overcalled by 
their partner ; but this idea is long since exploded, 
and overcalling a partner is now recognised as 
forming a part of the intelligent conversation of 
the game. 

When the dealer has opened with a suit declara- 
tion, other than spades, and the second player has 
overcalled him in another suit, the third player 
should always back his partner up, if he can 
support him at all. It is not necessary for him 
to have strength in the declared suit, provided 
that he has a fairly good hand outside that. 
Three probable tricks is quite a good enough 
hand to support a partner on, and many players 
do it on considerably less strength than that. 

Being void of a suit, or holding only a singleton 
in it, with two or three little trumps in the hand, 
is a great element of strength in this connection, 
particularly if the short suit happens to be the 
one which the opponents have declared. 

Suppose the dealer has called “One Heart,” 
and the second player has overcalled him with 
“ Two Diamonds,” and let us give the third player 
what is really an extremely bad hand. Say that 
he holds — 

4 Ace, 10, 8, 5, 4 

y 6, 5, 2 

+ 9, 8, 6, 5, 3 „ 

0 < None > 

No one will call this a good hand, or even a 
moderate one, or anything but a very bad one; 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 115 

and yet the third player, holding this hand, should 
certainly back his partner up by overcalling the 
“Two Diamonds” call with “Two Hearts.” 

The hand is worth at least three tricks, with 
hearts as trumps — two by ruffing diamonds, and 
one for the ace of spades ; whereas, with diamonds 
as trumps, it cannot be worth more than one trick. 

An original suit declaration is not the same 
unknown quantity as the original “no trump” 
call. An original declaration of “One Heart,” 
or “ One Diamond,” made by a reliable player, can 
be depended upon to mean substantial strength 
in the declared suit; and it may be very useful to 
the declarer to know that his partner can assist 
him, even to the extent of only two or three tricks. 
I say that an original suit declaration can always 
be depended upon; and so it can be, when it is 
made by a reliable player. 

There are, however, certain players who cheer- 
fully declare “One Heart” or “One Diamond” 
on five to the queen, or five to the knave, just as 
they will declare “hearts” or “diamonds” on the 
same sort of hands at ordinary Bridge. These are 
not reliable players, and it would only be a waste 
of time to write about their methods. No reliance 
can be placed upon their declarations at all. When 
one is unfortunate enoygh to cut with a player of 
this type, the only thing to do is to sit tight, and 
to declare only up to the value of one s own hand. 

When the dealer has declared “One Heart,” 
and the second player has overcalled him With 
12 


Il6 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

‘‘Two Diamonds,” the third player’s holding in 
the diamond suit should influence his play a great 
deal. If he is well protected in the diamond suit — 
not strong enough to double, but so strong that 
there is a fair chance of the “Two Diamonds” 
call being defeated, and no chance of the game 
being won on it — his better policy will be to leave 
it at “Two Diamonds” rather than to make any- 
thing like a doubtful call of “Two Hearts.” If, 
on the other hand, he is very weak in diamonds, 
he ought to run a certain amount of risk, rather 
than to leave his opponents with their “Two 
Diamonds” call. 

When the second player has made a red suit 
declaration, the third player ought, of course, to 
raise him if he can do so with safety. Further 
than that, if the third player has a useful hand, 
with which there would be a good chance of 
defeating a higher call in the declared suit, he 
ought to stretch a point in his endeavour to bid 
his opponents up; but there can be no sort of 
logic in making a risky call in order to raise the 
opponents, when there is no reasonable chance 
of defeating them after they have been raised. 
It is only giving them an option to nothing. 

There remains the question of a “no trump” 
declaration by the dealer having been overcalled 
by the second player with two tricks in a red suit. 
The third player should bear in mind the fact 
that an original “no trump” call under present 
conditions may mean much, or it may mean very 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 117 

little, and he should treat this call with a con- 
siderable amount of caution. Unless he has a 
“no trump” hand himself, he should never declare 
“Two No Trumps” if he is not guarded in the 
suit declared by the opponents. For him to do 
so in such a case is to say to his partner, “I am 
guarded in the declared suit, so you need not be 
afraid of that.” If he has more than mere 
protection in the declared suit; if he holds 
considerable strength in it, such as four or five 
with two honours, he should not support his 
partner by calling “Two No Trumps,” but should 
go for a bolder and a better game. He is then in 
a fine position to double the second player’s 
two-trick suit declaration, and he should not 
hesitate to do so. The dealer can still declare 
“Two No Trumps,” and will do so if he can see 
a certainty of winning the game, with the declared 
suit held safe by his partner. If not, the declarer 
of “Two Hearts” or “Two Diamonds” can have 
but a very poor chance of winning eight out 
of the thirteen tricks with a “no trump” hand 
on one side of him, and strength in his declared 
suit on the other side. Some players are very fond 
of bidding up a declaration of “ One No Trump,” 
and they occasionally do so on very slender pre- 
texts; but it is a dangerous game to play. The 
third player should always be on the look-out for 
this opportunity, as it . is one which constantly 
occurs, but which is .very frequently missed. Pro- 
vided that he can take care of the declared suit 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


1 18 


by winning two tricks in it, he can trust to his 
partner to do the rest; and his opponents are likely 
to have a very bad time. It is the same principle 
over again, that it is more valuable to defeat one’s 
adversaries than to score oneself. The declared 
suit is probably the weak spot in the dealer’s “ no 
trump” declaration ; and with that weak spot filled 
up by his partner’s hand, the “no trump” call 
ought to do very well. The Bridge player — the 
man who always tries to win the game — will de- 
clare “Two No Trumps ” as third player, and will 
be quite likely to achieve his object : but the ex- 
perienced Auction Bridge player will take a 
different view. He will double the “Two Hearts” 
or “Two Diamonds” declaration, with the cer- 
tainty of annexing 200 or 300 points, provided 
that his partner’s “no trump” declaration was at 
all a justifiable one. That is Auction Bridge, as 
distinguished from ordinary Bridge. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 119 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE FOURTH PLAYER. 

The fourth player hardly requires a chapter to 
himself. So much will have happened before it 
comes to his turn to speak, that his tactics should 
really come under the heading of the “General 
Declaration,” which is treated of in the next chapter. 
Still, there are one or two points which are peculiar 
to the position of fourth player; so he shall have 
his own chapter, but it will be a short one. 

As regards overbidding the opponents, everything 
that has been said on the subject, for the guidance 
of the second and third players, applies equally to 
the fourth player. He should overbid a call made 
by either adversary when he can do so with safety, 
and with possible profit ; but it is very unsound play 
to make a risky declaration with the sole object of 
bidding the other side up, when there is no chance 
of defeating them after they are bidden up. 

It is much better for the fourth player to overcall 
a declaration made by the dealer than one made 
by the third player, because, when the dealer is the 
declarer, there is a distinct object in showing his 
partner which suit to lead. When the third player 
is the declarer, the fourth player will have to make 
the opening lead himself, and there is no object in 
showing his suit. 


120 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


In these days of forward declarations, it does 
not often happen that a call of “ One Spade ” or 
“ Two Spades ” comes round to the fourth player, 
but it does happen sometimes. When the dealer 
has called “ One Spade,” and the second and third 
players have both passed, it is more than probable 
that the fourth player will have an exceptionally 
good hand. Someone must have the strength, and 
if none of the other three have been able to de- 
clare anything, who can have it but the fourth 
player? If he has a really good hand, he will 
naturally declare “ no trumps,” or a strong red suit, 
with a view to winning the game. That is plain 
and easy enough ; but it will sometimes happen that 
his hand, although good, does not look like winning 
the game. What is he to do then ? 

Many players, when the call of “ One Spade ” 
comes round to them, as fourth in hand, seem to 
think it incumbent upon them to declare something, 
whatever their hand may be. I fail to see the in- 
cumbency, unless there is a good chance of winning 
the game. The fourth player, under these con- 
ditions, is in such a splendid position. The utmost 
that he can lose is four or six points, which is of 
no value at all ; whereas, on the other hand, he is 
extremely likely to win 50 or 100 points, by leaving 
his opponents in with their call of “ One Spade.” 
In other words, he is taking 25 to 1 about what 
must be, as nearly as possible, an even money 
chance ; and surely this is a position which should 
not be lightly given up. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP TO DATE. I 21 


If the fourth player can make any declaration on 
which there is a good chance of winning the game, 
by all means let him make it ; but he should never 
interfere with a call of “ One Spade ” by making a 
declaration on which he is extremely unlikely to 
win the game, although he may, perhaps, win the 
odd trick. I look on it as sheer idiocy to declare 
“no trumps” on a moderate hand, because the 
Other players have passed, in preference to ac- 
cepting the odds of 25 to 1 . about the 4 spade 
declaration. 

The situation is quite clear. The cards are 
evidently very evenly divided, and it will be a 
near thing which side wins the odd trick. 

I have a vivid recollection of my partner once 
declaring “One No Trump” under these very con- 
ditions, and losing two by cards, which cost us 100 
points above the line. Then he said, “ I am sorry, 
partner, but I thought, as nobody had declared 
anything, that I would have a dash for the game.” 
Can there be any sense in that ? A man declares 
“no trumps” on a very moderate hand, knowing 
that his partner has nothing of much value, and 
then calls, it “having a dash for the game.” 

It is certainly “having a dash,” but I fail to 
see where the chance of winning the game comes 
in. A distinct feature of Auction Bridge is recog- 
nising when you are in a good position, or in a 
dangerous one, and regulating your play accordingly. 

There are some players who still follow the old 
convention of taking their partner out of the “ One 


122 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


Spade” declaration by calling “Two Spades.” This 
call generally means, now-a-days, that the third 
player has strength in the spade suit; but that 
strength may not amount to much; and the call 
of “Two Spades” does not always mean even that. 
If the fourth player has a good hand, he should 
not be in a hurry to jump in with a strong declara- 
tion. He can well afford to wait. He must not 
forget that his opponents have stepped out of the 
safety zone by declaring “Two Spades,” and that 
their liability is now unlimited. 

His best policy is to double the “Two Spades ” 
call, and to wait for developments. If the oppo- 
nents are able to get out of it, the fourth player 
can then make any higher declaration which he 
may wish to make; but it is quite possible that 
they may not be able to get out of it, in which 
case they will be in a very unpleasant and dan- 
gerous position. 

With a very strong “no trump” hand, it may 
be sound policy to declare it at once, and to go 
straight for the game; but, personally, I much 
prefer to double the “Two Spades” call, and to 
see what will happen. If the opponents branch 
to another suit, you can then declare your “no 
trumps,” and you will be in just as good a position 
as if you had declared it at first. 

When “One Diamond” or “One Heart” has 
been called by the third player, the fourth player 
should declare “One No Trump,” if he has the 
smallest nucleus of a “no trump” hand, not be- 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 23 

cause he wishes to play the hand as a “ no trump,” 
but in order to force his opponents up to “Two 
Diamonds ” or “ Two Hearts,” which must of 
necessity be more difficult to get than one. In 
calling “One No Trump,” it is not even necessary 
that he should be guarded in the suit declared ; but 
if his opponents amend their call to two tricks in 
the suit, then he must draw in his horns, and not 
dream of declaring “Two No Trumps,” as the de- 
clared suit is certain to be led up to him at once, 
and he may very easily get defeated. 

If the third player declares “no trumps,” the 
fourth player should call “ Two Hearts ” or “ Two 
Diamonds,” if he has a really good suit of 
either; but it is a risky business to do this 
without the requisite strength, with the sole object 
of putting the opponents up to “Two No Trumps.” 
They may refuse to be drawn, and, instead of 
increasing their own call, they may retaliate by 
doubling his, when he will be fairly hoist with his 
own petard, as he will have no possible means 
of escape. A declaration of one trick is rarely 
doubled, but a declaration of two tricks is quite 
another matter, and is apt to be doubled very 
readily. 

Also, the fourth player has nothing to gain by 
making a risky declaration. If the third player’s 
“no trump” is a good one, he calls “Two No 
Trumps,” and gets it ; if it was a weak call, he 
leaves the fourth player with his “ Two Diamonds ” 
or “Two Hearts,” and the risky declaration will 


124 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

probably come unstitched. With the “ no trump ” 
declaration made on his right, the fourth player will 
have to open the game himself, and there is no 
advantage in indicating his suit to his partner. 
When the “ no trump ” declaration has been made 
on his left, by the dealer, it is quite a different 
matter. It may then be of the greatest importance 
to show his partner which suit to open, and he 
should risk a great deal more, in the way of making 
a rather chanceable two-trick call, when the “no 
trump” declaration has been made by the dealer, 
than when it has been made by the third player ; 
the object being, not only to raise the call to “Two 
No Trumps,” but also to inform his partner which 
suit to lead. 

It does not often happen that the fourth player 
is in a position to overcall a declaration of his 
partner’s; but, when it does happen, the same argu- 
ment holds good, as in the case of the third hand 
overcalling the dealer. Here is a case which 
recently occurred : — 

The dealer declared “ One No Trump,” the 
second player called “Two Diamonds,” the third 
hand passed, and the fourth player, holding ace, 
queen, ten to six hearts, overcalled his partner’s 
declaration with “Two Hearts”; and he was quite 
right in doing so, as his hearts were, in all proba- 
bility, better than his partner’s diamonds ; and also 
the heart declaration is a more valuable one, and 
therefore a better one, than the diamond. The 
sequel of this hand was almost tragic. The dealer 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 25 

held entire command of both black suits, the king 
of hearts alone, and three diamonds to the knave. 
He was already one game to the bad, and the heart 
declaration looked like being fatal to him ; so he 
hardened his heart, very injudiciously, and declared 
“Two No Trumps.” The second player doubled, 
and proceeded to win six tricks in diamonds ; he 
then led a heart, of which he had four small ones. 
The Dummy had knave and one other, and the 
fourth player made all his six hearts ; so that the 
dealer only won one trick, and lost 709 points above 
the line, which is the biggest score that I ever saw 
or heard of. 

When the dealer has opened with “One No 
Trump,” the second player has declared “Two 
Hearts,” and the third player has called “Two No 
Trumps,” it can hardly ever be right for the fourth 
player, however strong he may be in the heart 
suit, to support his partner by a call of “Three 
Hearts.” It may be very tempting for him to 
do so if he has five hearts in his own hand; but 
just think what a declaration of “Three Hearts” 
means. It means that the declarer can only afford 
to lose four out of the thirteen tricks, and he takes 
on this proposition after one of his opponents has 
told him that he is guarded in the heart suit 
(that is to say, that he can win one trick in it), 
and the other opponent has told him that he has 
a “ no trump ” hand. The dealer has very likely 
not got a heart at all, but in that case he will 
be proportionately strong in the other suits ; and 


126 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


where are the nine tricks to come from ? Nothing 
except a cross ruff could possibly do it. 

A moment’s thought will disclose the futility of 
a call of this kind, and yet it is one that is often 
made. “I was bound to support you in your 
call,” says the player. But why was he bound to 
support his partner ? The second player probably 
only made the call of “Two Hearts” to put his 
opponents up to “Two No Trumps,” and he 
succeeded in his object. The last thing that he 
wished for was to have the responsibility thrust 
upon him of playing a call of “Three Hearts” 
against two “no trump” hands. This is quite a 
fair instance of the sort of irresponsible calls 
which are often made at Auction Bridge, without 
the situation being thought out at all. 

The only advice to be given to the fourth 
player is to be very chary of helping his oppo- 
nents out of a black suit declaration. When 
the game is advanced beyond the black suit 
stage, before the call comes round to him, his 
tactics come under the head of the “ General 
Declaration,” which is treated of in the next 
chapter. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


127 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE GENERAL DECLARATION. 

By the “general declaration” is meant the bidding 
after the real business of the hand has commenced, 
when the preliminary skirmishing is over, and when 
one of the players, no matter which, has made 
a declaration of scoring value. Sometimes the 
dealer will open the proceedings with a call of 
“no trumps,” or of one trick in a red suit In, 
that ca&e there is no preliminary skirmishing at 
all; the business of the hand commences right 
away. At other times the dealer will begin with 
“One Spade,” and possibly the second player will 
pass; then the onus of opening up the game 
devolves upon the third player. It very rarely 
happens, now-a-days, that the call is left at “One 
Spade.” The average player is now inclined to 
run to the other extreme, and to make calls, for 
the sake of saying something, which are not 
sound ones — which he has little or no chance of 
carrying through with success. There is a happy 
medium between the two. Experience has proved 
that the player who habitually waits to see what 
the others are going to do, before making a 
declaration, frequently gets left behind, and finds 


128 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


himself defeated by the more forward declarer. 
On the other hand, the player who makes a 
practice of declaring above the value of his hand 
is asking for trouble, and is apt to prove a very 
expensive partner to play with. 

It has now become an established principle of 
Auction Bridge that, if a player is able to make 
any valuable declaration, he should do so at once, 
both in order to give his partner information, 
and also, in racing parlance, so as to get the first 
run. This applies specially to the “no trump” 
declaration. If a player, wherever he may be 
placed — whether he is first, second, third, or fourth 
player — has a possible “no trump” call, he should 
always declare “One No Trump” at once. If he 
does not do so, it is more than probable that 
one of his opponents will call it instead, and the 
first declarer of “no trumps” has an enormous 
advantage at Auction Bridge. 

The “no trump” call is a tremendously power- 
ful weapon in the hands of the Auction Bridge 
player — far too powerful. Personally, I consider 
that the game would be a far better one if the 
“no trump” call were eliminated altogether — if the 
bidding was confined to trump suit declarations ; 
but I fear that such a radical change as this is 
not likely to come about. The “no trump” call 
will always exist, but its tendency is bound to be 
to spoil the game, when it has become a sort of 
race as to which side can declare “no trumps” 
first-^and it is fast coming to that. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


I29 


The “no trump” call may well be described as 
the pivot of Auction Bridge. The whole game 
turns on it. It is such a powerful factor in the 
game, that it becomes the goal which the expe- 
rienced player has ever in view. If he is not 
strong enough to declare it himself, he tries to 
give his partner such information as may enable 
him to declare it — as, for instance, by calling “ Two 
Spades,” or “Two Clubs,” or by declaring “One 
Heart” on ace, king, and two small ones. He 
does not declare “ One Heart ” on such strength 
as that because he wishes to play the hand with 
hearts as trumps; he declares it in order to help 
his partner to call “One No Trump.” On the 
same principle, he is very quick to make use of 
any information which his partner may be able to 
give him, to work it in with any strength which he 
may hold himself, and, if possible, to make up a 
“no trump” call between the two hands. That 
is the point which the first-class Auction Bridge 
player is always working up to — the “no trump” 
declaration. 

It should .be remembered that the bidding at 
Auction Bridge is not governed by the same prin- 
ciples as the declaration at ordinary Bridge. At 
ordinary Bridge the dealer can either make a de- 
claration on his own hand, or he can leave it to 
his partner. There the matter ends. There is 
no intermediate course — no combination of the 
two hands as far as the declaration is concerned. 
At Auction Bridge the object of the bidding is 

K 


130 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


to arrive at the most valuable declaration which 
the two hands combined are capable of. There- 
fore, a player, should try to give his partner as 
much information as possible when his own hand 
is not strong enough for an independent attacking 
declaration. For the dealer to give his partner 
any information as to his hand is a crime at ordi- 
nary Bridge — at Auction Bridge it is a virtue. 

As a general rule for a first call, any declaration 
which would be a sound one for the dealer to 
make at ordinary Bridge, is a sound one for any 
player to make at Auction Bridge. The only 
difference is that high cards, such as aces and 
kings, have a greatly increased value at Auction 
Bridge, and numerical strength has a greatly re- 
duced value. Six hearts, of any value; are supposed 
to justify an original heart declaration at ordinary 
Bridge; but no Auction Bridge player of any ex- 
perience would dream of calling “ One Heart ” on 
six to the ten, or on any purely numerical strength 
such as that. On the other hand, ace, king, and 
two other hearts is quite a sound “One Heart” 
call at Auction Bridge ; but that would not be 
looked on with favour as a heart declaration at 
the other game. 

To hark back for a moment to the “ no trump ” 
declaration. Here, again, the conditions are very 
different in the two games. At ordinary Bridge 
it is generally regarded as rather a rash proceeding 
to declare “no trumps” with pronounced weakness 
in the red suits. On a passed declaration this is 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 131 

certainly the case. At Auction Bridge the position 
is reversed. There is very little danger in chancing 
a whole red suit, or even both the red suits ; but 
there is great danger, in chancing the black ones. 

The reason of this is obvious. If either of the 
opponents is very strong in hearts or diamonds, 
he will overcall “One No Trump” with “Two 
Hearts,” or “Two Diamonds”; but he will not call 
“Six Spades,” or “Three Clubs,” however strong 
he may be in a black suit. A beginner might be 
tempted to call “ Three Clubs ” if he held seven 
or eight with the tierce major, but the more 
experienced player would leave the “One No 
Trump” call severely alone, and would inevitably 
defeat it. It is worth bearing in mind that, against 
a “no trump” call, a black suit is much mere 
likely to be opened than a red one. Some players 
believe strongly in this black suit theory, and make 
a practice of always opening spades up to a “no 
trump ” call, unless they are really strong in some 
other suit, or unless their partner has shown 
strength elsewhere. There is something in it, but 
for my own part I prefer the regular Bridge open- 
ing of the numerically strongest suit, although it 
is only fair to say that, if I have any doubt between 
a red and a black suit, I invariably choose the 
black one to open. 

We now come to the question of how far a 
player should support his partner's original declara- 
tion. There is a tremendous difference between 
a forced call and a voluntary call; but many 


I 3 2 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


players (I could almost say the majority of players) 
fail altogether to discriminate between the two, and 
they treat the one call exactly as they treat the 
other. When a player has made a voluntary call 
of “ One Heart ” — that is, when he could equally 
well have passed, if he had wished to — it is quite 
safe to credit him with a genuine heart hand; and 
his partner should certainly support him by calling 
“Two Hearts,” when the declaration is overcalled, 
provided that he can render useful assistance, such 
as one honour in hearts, and two or three tricks in 
the other suits. With two certain, or three pro- 
bable tricks, the partner of the declarer should 
always support a voluntary call of one trick in a 
red suit ; but it is very dangerous to do this on a 
forced call. 

When a declaration, which was obviously a 
forced one, has been overcalled, the partner of the 
declarer, unless he is very strong, ought to pass the 
first time, and see whether the declarer wishes to 
go on. If he does so, and is again overcalled, his 
partner can then step in with great advantage, as 
he knows then that the original declaration was a 
genuine one. It is undoubtedly of great advantage 
at times, and when done with discretion, for a 
player to support his partner ; but the principle is 
carried to very great excess. When a player makes 
an independent, voluntary suit call, he presumably 
does so because he wishes that suit to be trumps ; 
but when he overcalls a declaration made by his 
opponents, he may be actuated by very different 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE 133 

motives. He may be simply nursing them — trying 
to bid them up to a point at which he can double 
them ; and then, when he has accomplished his 
object, his partner dashes in and spoils the whole 
entertainment by making a high call which is pro- 
bably very difficult to carry through with success. 

When playing with an irresponsible partner, who 
thinks it necessary to support one to the fullest 
limit of his cards, one’s hands are terribly tied. 
One is afraid to make anything in the shape of a 
forcing declaration, for fear that one’s partner will 
put his spoke in at the wrong moment, and will 
turn* a fine winning position into one of great danger. 
Players of this type, and there are many of them — 
forward players, as they are pleased to term them- 
selves — do not at all realise what they lose by their 
forwardness. It is not only what they lose on their 
own declarations ; that is bad enough in all con- 
science, but that is not the worst. They paralyse 
a good partner to such an extent that he is terrified 
to play his own game, and he simply tries to get 
the rubber over as soon as possible, with as small a 
loss as he can. 

The player who never knows when to hold his 
tongue, is a very difficult partner to play with. It 
is impossible to play an intelligent game with him, 
as he will inevitably jump in at the wrong moment, 
and upset one’s best-laid plans. With such a part- 
ner it is unwise to make any declaration which will 
not stand being raised to two or three tricks, and 
this necessarily cramps one’s game terribly. 


134 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


To return to the subject of forced declarations. 
These are three in number : — 

I. When the third player is anxious to get his partner 
out of a spade call. 

II. When a player overcalls a declaration made by the 
other side. 

III. When the opponents are well advanced in the score, 
and have made a declaration which will win them 
the game — as, for instance, when they are 24 up, 
and have declared “ One Diamond ” or “ One 
Heart.” 

In the last case it is quite right to bluff a little, 
and to make almost any reasonable call which 
will force them up to “Two Diamonds” or “Two 
Hearts,” and prevent their winning the game very 
cheaply ; but the call must always be regarded as 
a forced one, and a dangerous one for a partner 
to back up on moderate strength. 

In any of the above-mentioned cases, the partner 
of the declarer ought to recognise the fact that the 
declaration is possibly a forced one, and he should 
be very chary of supporting it when it has been 
overcalled. The overcall is probably just what the 
declarer wished for — to be offered a means of 
escape from his forced declaration ; and the last 
thing which he desires is to have his call raised 
by his partner. 

Let us suppose that the dealer has opened 
the bidding with a call of one trick in a red 
suit. The second player then has to speak, and 
he should overcall the dealer if he can possibly do 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 35 

so, either with “One Heart” or “Two Clubs,” 
over a diamond call, or by calling “One No 
Trump,” or “Two Clubs,” or “Two Diamonds,” 
over a heart call. If the second player passes, the 
third player will probably pass, and then it is the 
fourth player’s turn. If he also passes, the call is 
left at “One Heart” or “One Diamond,” and the 
game proceeds. 

It is sometimes advisable, as I mentioned in a 
previous chapter, for a player to overcall his own 
partner’s declaration, when he can give little or 
no assistance to that declaration. 

Suppose that a player declares “ One Diamond,” 
the next player passes, and the declarer’s partner 
has only one or two small diamonds, but a strong 
suit of hearts — in that case he ought not to leave 
his partner in with the diamond call, in which he 
can render very little assistance; but he ought to 
declare his own, presumably better, suit of hearts. 
It is not necessarily taking the call away from his 
partner, as it is still open to him to call two 
tricks in diamonds if he is strong enough ; it 
simply amounts to saying, “ I cannot help you in 
your diamond suit, but I have a good call in 
hearts ” ; and it then remains for the diamond 
declarer to do what he thinks best. 
f This overcalling one’s own partner often sur- 
prises onlookers who do not understand the game, 
and sometimes affords them an opportunity for 
a little cheap wit ; but it is quite good play for all 
that, and it is an integral part of the conversation 


136 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


of the game for those who understand and 
appreciate it. 

Let us follow such a conversation, and try to 
interpret it. A declares “ One Heart,” Y passes, 
B (A’s partner) declares “One No Trump.” This 
means “ I cannot help you much in the heart suit, 
but I have a ‘no trump’ hand, if you can take 
care of the hearts.” Z passes, and A declares 
“Two Hearts,” which says to his partner, “My 
heart call is a strong one, but I have very little 
outside ; so unless your * no trump ’ call is a 
really good one, you had better leave it to me.” 
B then declares “Two No Trumps.” This, being 
interpreted, means “Thank you very much, but my 
‘ no trump ’ is a very good one, now that I know 
that you have got the hearts, and therefore we had 
better make the most that we can out of the hand.” 

In this case the opponents have not made a 
single call, but the others have overcalled one 
another no less than three times. Overcalling 
one’s partner always seems, to the uninitiated, to 
be an act of supererogation, but it is not so. It 
is a part, and a very important part, of intelligent 
declaring, and it is read and understood like an 
open book, by those who fully enter into the spirit 
of the game. It is quite a common occurrence 
for an inexperienced player, when his partner has 
overcalled him, to dry up at once, and to say 
afterwards, in a tone of deep reproach, “Why did 
you take the declaration away from me? We 
shofcld have done much better on my call.” That 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 37 

is where he makes the mistake. His partner did 
not take the call away from him ; he only told him 
that he could not assist in the suit declared, and 
that there was an alternative declaration if it was 
wanted./ 

f It was still open to the original declarer to make 
a higher call, and he ought to have done so, if he 
was really strong. The object is to extract the 
utmost value from the hand, provided that there is 
no chance of defeating the adversaries, and, just 
as at ordinary Bridge, to make the most valuable 
declaration which the two hands combined are 
capable of. There is no obligation whatever 
to leave one’s partner in with his call, when one 
has a more valuable declaration which can be 
made with a reasonable chance of success ; and it 
is stupid to resent the declaration being taken away 
by a responsible partner, who knows his business. 
Combination is the great element of success ; and 
two partners who understand one another’s game, 
and play into one another’s hand, will inevitably 
defeat two others, however good they may be in- 
dividually, who are not in sympathy, and who have 
no confidence in one another’s judgment. , 

The variations of the declaration are so innu- 
merable, and differ so very widely from one. hand 
to another, that it is quite impossible to set them 
all out in detail. All that I can venture to do is to 
outline a general scheme for the guidance of the 
beginner, and to advise him to watch the methods 
employed by good players for many rubbers before 


138 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


he attempts to play the game himself for any con- 
siderable stake. The most important point that 
he has to learn is, when to push a hand to its 
utmost value, and when to keep quiet and to 
accept any loss that the Fates may have in store 
for him, without running useless risks by declaring 
above the value of his hand. 

There will be times when he ought to declare 
above the value of his hand, and there will be 
times when he ought to declare below it. Ex- 
perience alone will teach him to discriminate 
between the two. When a player has a really good 
hand, he should not always declare the full value 
of it at once if he can help it. If he does, he will 
probably be left with his call, and, although he 
may win the game, he may also be throwing away 
a magnificent chance of getting a valuable score 
above the line ; and let it be always borne in mind 
that this is where the profit of Auction Bridge 
comes in — in scoring above the line, not below it. 
All the big games which are won at Auction Bridge 
owe their magnitude to failures by the opponents, 
not to successes by the winners. Take the most 
extreme case. Suppose that a player wins a rubber 
in two hands, with two Grand Slams, the utmost 
that he can win is about 500 points ; whereas, 
by lying low with good hands, and inducing his 
opponents to declare beyond their strength, it is 
quite possible for him to win a rubber of 1000 
points or more. A rubber can only be won once, 
but the opponents’ declarations can be defeated any 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 39 

number of times, and the more they are defeated, 
the more they will probably buck up and try to 
get it back. 

In the early days of Auction Bridge, the prin- 
ciple of keeping the flag flying was carried much 
further than it is at the present time, and certain 
clever players reaped a rich harvest by nursing 
their opponents — by not trying to win the game 
and finish the rubber, but rather allowing their 
opponents to play for contracts which they had 
no chance of fulfilling, and to go on piling up 
losses which could never be retrieved. That is 
the principle of declaring below the value of 
one’s hand. 

We now come to the occasions when a player 
ought to declare above the value of his hand. 
There are two objects with which it is sometimes 
right to declare above the value of one’s hand : 
first to force the opponents up and to tempt 
them to enter into a bigger contract than they 
can perform ; and secondly, to prevent them from 
winning the game, even at the risk of losing some- 
thing oneself above the line. This second is known 
as the principle of keeping the flag flying. It is 
a proceeding fraught with much danger ; but when 
the opponents have a practical certainty, or at 
any rate a strong probability, of winning the game 
and rubber — not the game only, but the game 
and rubber — on a declaration which they have 
made, it may be good policy to incur an almost 
certain loss above the line in order to prevent 


140 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

their going out, in the hope of being able to pull 
the game out of the fire eventually. 

Suppose that the score is one game all, and 
that your opponents are 16 up in the last game. 
Your hand is — 

4 * Knave, 9, 4, 2 

V 6 

4» Queen, 9, 5 

0 Ace, King, Queen, Knave, 2 

You have called “Two Diamonds,” and your 
opponents call “Two Hearts.” Your hand is worth 
five tricks, or at the very outside six tricks, with 
the diamond call ; but you cannot afford to leave 
your opponents in with their “Two Hearts” call, 
as they will be more than likely to win the 
game and rubber; so you must declare “Three 
Diamonds,” and trust to your partner being able 
to win three or four tricks. If the opponents 
overcall you again with “Three Hearts,” you 
should even declare “Four Diamonds” — not that 
you have any hope of fulfilling your contract by 
winning ten tricks, but in order to keep the flag 
flying, and to prevent their winning the rubber. 

The situation is worth looking carefully into. If 
they get their three tricks in hearts, which they 
probably will do, it means that they score 24 for 
points; certainly 16, and very likely 32, or even 
more, for honours ; and the 250 rubber points in 
addition, amounting to a grand total of over 300 
points. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


141 


That is one side of the question ; now take the 
other side. If you declare “ Four Diamonds,” and 
get two under, it means a loss of 100 points above 
the line, and you have your 48 for honours to set 
off against it, leaving you with a loss of only 52 
points on the transaction ; that is to say, you are 
taking a 6 to 1 chance. You fully expect to lose 
50 points as against an equal probability of losing 
300. If you eventually lose the rubber, your flag- 
flying will have cost you something; but if you win 
it, you will have gained a great deal, and you must 
remember that those 250 points are still in abey- 
ance ; you have still as good a chance as they 
have, the fact of being 16 up counting for very 
little at Auction Bridge. It is simply a matter of 
a quick estimation of the odds. If you are a bit of 
a gambler, you will keep the flag flying, within 
reasonable limits, when it is a case of saving or 
losing the rubber, and when the odds against you 
are not too long. 

If you prefer to play a safety game, you will 
probably accept the first loss, and retire from the 
contest without risking anything. 

It is quite impossible for anyone to give advice 
as to how long, and at what cost, the flag should 
be kept flying, or when it should be hauled down. 
It is entirely a matter of individual intuition, and 
it is just as certain that one man will do it at the 
wrong moment, as that another man will do it at the 
right one. Every player must judge for himself, 
and play his hand according to his own lights. 


142 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


When you have twb suits of nearly equal 
strength, it is generally better to declare the less 
valuable of the two first. Say that your hand is — 


♦ 9 

Ace, King, 8, 5, 2 

•j* Knave, 3 

0 Ace, Queen, 7, 4, 2 


At ordinary Bridge you would declare hearts on 
this hand without any hesitation ; but at Auction 
Bridge it is better to begin with “ One Diamond,” 
and this for several reasons. If you declare “ One 
Diamond,” your opponents are very likely to call 
“ One Heart,” in order to force you up, and you 
have at once got them at a disadvantage, as you 
are almost certain to defeat their heart call ; but if 
you declare “ One Heart,” they are not nearly so 
likely to try to raise you, as it will take a call of 
“Two Diamonds” to do it. Also, if your diamond 
call is doubled, whether it is “One Diamond” or 
“ Two Diamonds,” you can at once switch to the 
heart suit by calling the same number of tricks ; 
whereas, if your heart call is doubled, you will be 
obliged to call an additional trick in diamonds, in 
order to get out of the double. Again, it is quite 
a possible placing of the cards, that the opponent 
on your right may hold the king of diamonds, and 
strength in both black suits ; if so, he will declare 
“ no trumps,” in the expectation of the first lead up 
to him being a diamond ; but you upset his calcu- 
lations by leading a small heart instead, and his 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 43 

“ no trump ” is very likely to be beaten. The 
diamond call is quite as good as the heart call for 
trick-making purposes, because you have two certain 
tricks, outside trumps, with the diamond call, and 
only one certain outside trick if hearts are trumps. 

It is an enormous help to a hand to have an 
alternative call to switch to in case you are doubled. 
If your opponents have declared “ Two Diamonds,” 
you can call “Two Hearts” on king, knave, and 
two others, with a view to forcing them up to 
“ Three Diamonds,” and then doubling them, 
provided that you are prepared to call “Two No 
Trumps” if they double your “Two Hearts.” This 
is much better than calling “Two No Trumps” at 
once, as that would probably frighten them off 
altogether, and prevent their bidding any further. 
This is the principle known as “nursing” your 
opponents — luring them on to undertake a bigger 
contract than they can perform, by masking the 
real strength of your hand until the last moment. 

Let me repeat once more that the real aim and 
object of the bidding is to force your opponents up 
to the breaking point — to the point at which it is 
extremely doubtful whether they will be able to 
fulfil their contract ; and, when you have got them 
there, to leave them there ; not to offer them the 
smallest loophole of escape if you can possibly help 
it. The difficulty is to judge when this point has 
been reached, and it is here that the really clever 
Auction Bridge player excels. He nearly always 
manages to draw in his horns just at the right 


144 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE 


moment, while the less clever player thinks he will 
go for just one more rise ; and it is that last rise 
which so often lands him in the net himself, instead 
of getting his opponents into it. 

The desire to bid your opponents up is a most 
laudable ambition. It is more than that. It is 
one of the most useful and most interesting features 
in the game of Auction Bridge. To do it skilfully 
and with success entails the use of a nice dis- 
crimination, and of considerable finesse. It is 
always right to bid them up when you can do so 
with safety — that is to say, when you can do it with- 
out calling above the value of your own hand. 
Sometimes you should go further than that. There 
are occasions when it is good play to overcall your 
hand considerably in your endeavour to force the 
other side up. These occasions are of two kinds. 
Firstly, when they have made a call which will win 
the game, if they fulfil their contract. In that case 
it is worth while to run a certain amount of risk 
of being defeated yourself, rather than to allow 
them to win the game cheaply. Secondly, when 
you can see a good chance of defeating them, if 
they can be driven up to a higher call. This is 
where the finesse corner in. It requires very nice 
judgment to know exactly how far to go. You are 
treading on rather dangerous ground in calling 
above the value of your own hand, simply in order 
to force them up, unless the game is in actual 
danger. That is the real turning-point — whether 
the game is in danger or not. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


145 


Remember that intermediate scores are of very 
little moment at Auction Bridge. There is none 
of the mounting up of the score, little by little, 
until the crucial point of 30 is arrived at, which is 
such an important factor at ordinary Bridge. A 
very large majority of the games at Auction 
Bridge are won, or would equally have been won, 
from the score of love. Intermediate scores are 
hardly worth thinking about, and certainly not 
worth playing for. There are two valuable assets 
to play for, and all other considerations should be 
subservient to those two. The first is, to win the 
game yourself; the second, to defeat your oppo- 
nents’ call. Even these two are relative, and may 
change places. It is not worth while to forego a 
good chance of winning the game for the sake of 
scoring 100 points above the line; but, when there 
is any likelihood of scoring 300 or 400 points, the 
situation is very different. This is something 
worth going for, and should not be lightly given 
up, especially if you should happen to be already 
a game to the good. If you are a game behind, 
then it is of paramount importance to get on even 
terms; but, when you are a game to the good, 
there is no occasion for hurry ; you can afford to 
wait a little, and to avail yourself of any desirable 
plums, such as 200 or 300 points above the line, 
which the Fates, or your opponents, may be kind 
enough to offer to you. 

The one consideration which should really in- 
fluence the question of overbidding your opponents 
L 


146 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

is, whether they are likely to win the game on the 
declaration which they have made. If they are 
likely to do so, or if there is any chance of their 
doing so, then it behoves you to exert yourself — to 
bid them up if you possibly can, even to the extent 
of calling above the value of your hand. To put 
the matter plainly, it is an occasion to try to bluff 
them into a higher call, which they will, of necessity, 
be less likely to get. 

When the game is safe — that is, when there is no 
chance of the opponents winning it on the de- 
claration which they have made — it is bad play to 
make a doubtful declaration simply in order to 
overcall them. Leave them in, and let them do 
their worst. They cannot hurt you appreciably, 
and they may even fail to fulfil their contract What 
I mean is such an instance as this: You declare 
“One Heart,” your opponent on the left calls 
“Two Diamonds,” your partner does not support 
you with “ Two Hearts,” and the call comes round 
again to you. If you have a really strong hand, 
with a chance, however small, of winning the game, 
you will naturally call “Two Hearts.” That is 
quite simple. But if your hand is not a very strong 
one — if you can see no chance of winning the game 
on your heart call, and, at the same time, there is 
no chance of your opponents winning it on their 
diamond call — you had far better leave matters 
alone, and let the onus of winning eight out of the 
thirteen tricks rest on their shoulders instead of on 
yours. They will probably get their contract, you 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. I47 

say. Very well — let them get it. What does it 
matter? Whether one side or the other scores 12 
or 16 points, is of very little importance at Auction 
Bridge. You should never be afraid of leaving the 
opponents in with their declaration, provided that 
the game is quite safe. That is what really matters. 
Winning the game, or saving the game, or defeating 
your opponents, are the three points which you 
should always have in view. Nothing else is worth 
thinking about. No consideration of whether they 
are likely to score 12 or 18, or you are likely to 
score 16, should be allowed to affect your question 
of declaring; provided, as I said before, that there 
is no chance of winning or losing the game. 

The following is a good example of what I mean : 
A player called “Two Diamonds,’ 7 and was over- 
called with “Three Clubs.” “Three Diamonds 57 
was the immediate response, and the declarer won 
seven tricks instead of nine, losing 100 points above 
the line. Now, what was there to be afraid of with 
the call of “Three Clubs 55 ? The score was love-all. 
There was no possibility of losing the game on it, 
nor of winning the game on the “Three Diamonds 57 
call. As a matter of fact, the opponents would not 
have got their “ Three Clubs,” and there would 
have been a gain of 50 or 100 points above the 
line, instead of a loss. That was really bad de- 
claring, without an atom of sense in it. The 
bidding for the declaration is, to a great extent, a 
matter of common-sense. When there is anything 
definite to be gained by taking a little risk, take it 


148 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

fearlessly; but I can see no sense in taking risks 
without a corresponding chance of profit 

In bidding your opponents up, you should always 
have some definite object in view. That object 
may be to win the game yourself, or to prevent 
their winning it, or to force them up to a point 
at which you are likely to defeat them. There 
can be no other object in it. It is worse than 
useless to overcall them, simply for the sake of 
bidding them up, when th^re is nothing to be 
gained by so doing — that is, when there is no 
chance of defeating them on their higher call. 

The bidding is quite the most interesting, as well 
as the most exciting, feature of Auction Bridge, and 
some players get rather carried away by the excite- 
ment of it, and go considerably further than they 
would do in their calmer moments. It is so 
difficult to know when to stop. I imagine that 
what is called the true British spirit of not knowing 
when one is beaten has something to do with it 
Some players never seem to know when to hold 
their tongue, and when to let matters rest. They 
are so fond of having that last word, that nothing 
will stop them when once they have started, and 
they go on bidding until their unhappy partners are 
inclined to wish that the gift of speech had been 
denied to them altogether. 

Did you ever hear the story of the talkative 
parrot ? 

There was once a parrot, the most wonderful 
talking bird that ever lived. Not only could he 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 149 

converse fluently in several languages, but also he 
had an extraordinary talent for imitating animals ; 
but this very accomplishment was the cause of his 
undoing. Being left one day in a room with two 
fox terriers, he proceeded to bark and to growl 
so realistically that the dogs imagined that it was 
one of their own species in some strange disguise, 
and they immediately set upon him. They got the 
unhappy parrot down on the floor, and used him 
most despitefully, pulling mouthfuls of feathers out 
of him, and mauling him very badly. 

At last he managed to get away from them, and 
to crawl up on to the back of a chair. It was the 
most dejected miserable-looking object of a parrot 
that ever was seen, bereft of all his feathers, covered 
with blood, and with only just breath enough left to 
utter one last memorable sentence : “ The trouble 
with me is that I talk too much.” 

That is also the trouble with many Auction 
Bridge players. Do not we all know them, and 
have not we all suffered at their hands ? Some of 
them will do well to lay this little fable seriously 
to heart. 



i5o 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PERSONAL ELEMENT. 

( Reprinted , by kind permission, from the “ Saturday Review.'") 

There is no other card game into which the 
personal element enters so strongly as it does into 
Auction Bridge. By the “personal element” I mean, 
not only a knowledge of one’s partner’s methods and 
peculiarities — that is of great use in any partner- 
ship game — but also of one’s opponents’ foibles ; 
of their habitual methods of declaring ; and of 
how far they can be bidden up with safety 

The man who is a student of character has all 
the makings of a successful Auction Bridge player 
inherent in him. This is where the Poker element 
comes into the game. Different players play it oh 
such widely different lines, that a proper apprecia- 
tion of their temperaments, of their individual 
characteristics, and of their various methods, is 
half the battle in gauging the strength of their 
hands. 

If a man cuts into a table with people whom he 
has never played with before, he will, naturally, 
know nothing about their methods — he will have 
to pick up his knowledge as he goes along ; but 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 151 

this does not often happen. Most people play 
habitually in the same set, and it is here that the 
student of character, the observant and retentive 
player, should reap his golden harvest. 

From the very first moment when you cut into 
a rubber, you should proceed to study your partner 
and his peculiarities. To begin with, if you have 
cut the lowest card, the right of choosing the seats 
and cards pertains to you, and to you alone — your 
partner is entirely at your orders. You may, 
yourself, have no prejudices at all about taking the 
winning cards or the winning seats; but if you find 
that your partner has any such prejudices, give 
way to him at once, and do what he wishes. Do 
not look down upon him from the height of your 
superior intelligence, and tell him that that is all 
rubbish — that the result cannot possibly be affected 
by which cards or which seats are selected. This 
may seem a small point, but some players have 
a strong predilection for taking the winning seats 
and the winning cards. 

If you find that your partner has such a fancy, 
why not indulge him? It will not hurt you, and 
it will please him ; and it is of the greatest im- 
portance to start on good terms with your partner. 
If you are obstinate and pig-headed enough to 
insist, for no good reason, upon enforcing your 
sole right to choose, you will very likely begin by 
ruffling him ; and he may possibly tell you, at the 
end of the rubber, should you be unfortunate 
enough to lose it, that it was entirely your fault 


152 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

for choosing the wrong cards or the wrong seats — 
which, to say the least of it, will not add to the 
harmony of the card table. This advice applies 
to ordinary Bridge as well as to Auction Bridge, 
but it is even more important to be in sympathy 
with your partner at Auction Bridge than it is at 
the older game. 

The first declaration of all — the opening call by 
the dealer — is a fruitful field for the exercise of 
personal observation. The methods of different 
players, equally good, vary more on this call than 
on any other. Anybody will overcall “ One Heart ” 
with “Two Diamonds” when he has a good dia- 
mond hand — your personal knowledge will tell 
you nothing in that case — but, when a player has 
to open the game, a knowledge of his habitual 
methods ought to be of considerable assistance to 
you in estimating the value of his call. 

There is a certain section of players — a section 
growing larger every day— who are firm believers 
in the value of the original call of “One No 
Trump.” Some of them carry the principle to 
great excess, and declare “One No Trump," as 
dealer, on the flimsiest of pretexts. When you 
know that your partner belongs to this school, you 
have to treat his call with a great deal of caution. 
His “no trump” call may, of course, be quite a 
sound one ; but, on the other hand, it may be a 
deplorably thin one, and you should be very chary 
of supporting it with “Two No Trumps” when it 
has been overcalled by the second player. This 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 53 

is one penalty that a player who is known to be a 
very forward “no trump” declarer has to pay — that 
his call fails to inspire his partner with any con- 
fidence. With a partner of this stamp, the third 
player should always call two tricks in a red suit 
if he has any pretensions to do so. He should 
give his partner the chance of getting out of the 
“no trump” call, in case it should have been 
a very light one. When the dealer has called 
“One No Trump,” it is certain that he has got 
something, although possibly not much ; and it 
happens, in a large majority of cases, that a sound 
red suit call is better than an original “no trump.” 

There is also a reverse side to this practice of 
the dealer making very sketchy “ no trump ” calls. 
When such a player does not begin with “One 
No Trump,” his partner should read him at once 
with less than an average hand. If he had an 
average hand — one ace, one king, one queen, etc. 
— he would have declared “One No Trump.” 
When, instead of that, he calls “One Spade,” 
there is a presumption, amounting almost to a 
certainty, that his hand is a very moderate one ; 
and his partner should be careful not to fly at 
too high game. The “One Spade” call does not 
quite amount to hoisting the danger signal, but it 
comes very near that, and an intelligent partner 
will not fail to be influenced by it. 

There is another section of players who are 
much more conservative. With them an original 
declaration of “One No Trump” at Auction 


i54 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


Bridge means nearly, if not quite, as much as 
an original declaration of “ no trumps ” at ordinary 
Bridge. To this school belong many good Bridge 
players, who have not yet played Auction Bridge 
long enough to divest themselves of their firmly 
established Bridge ideas. They had a certain 
standard in their own minds for a legitimate “ no 
trump” call at Bridge; and, although they may 
moderate it to some extent at Auction Bridge, 
they cannot yet bring themselves to make an 
original “ no trump ” declaration without what they 
would consider to be at least the nucleus of a“no 
trump ” hand. It is surely very easy to see what 
a strong bearing the personal element has upon 
the game in such circumstances as these. 

With the latter class of player as partner, an 
original “no trump” call means something definite 
and tangible ; with the former class it means little 
or nothing ; and the player who knows his partner, 
and can discriminate between the two, must be 
at a great advantage. 

Again, the significance of a suit declaration 
differs very widely with different partners. First- 
class Auction Bridge players are very reliable in 
this respect. When they make an original suit 
declaration, other than spades, they can be de- 
pended upon to have some real backbone in the 
suit. But all Auction Bridge players are not first 
class, and some are far from being reliable. Just 
as, at ordinary Bridge, there are certain players 
who cannot bear to pass the declaration with five 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 55 

hearts in their hand, so at Auction Bridge there 
are certain players who are so fed up with that 
mistaken idea of showing their best suit to their 
partner, that they will declare hearts or diamonds 
on five to the queen, or on six to the ten. No 
call of that kind is an original declaration at all 
at Auction Bridge. Four to the ace, king, or the 
king, queen, ten, and one other, is much sounder 
and better. 

The original declarations at ordinary Bridge, 
and at Auction Bridge, are two entirely different 
things. At ordinary Bridge an original declaration 
has one object, and one only — namely, to play the 
hand on that call. At Auction Bridge there are 
two objects — firstly, to play the hand with the suit 
declared as trumps ; and secondly, and far more 
important, to give information to one’s partner 
with the view of helping him to declare “no 
trumps.” It may help him enormously to know 
that his partner can command the heart suit; but 
the knowledge that his partner has five or six 
small hearts can be of no possible use to him. 

Yet again, when the dealer declares “Two 
Spades,” or “ Two Clubs,” it is of the greatest im- 
portance for .the third player to know whether he 
can thoroughly rely on that call. It ought to 
mean the ace and king, or at least the king queen, 
knave, at the head of the suit ; but there are 
players — very unsound ones — who will call “Two 
Spades” on numerical strength. I remember seeing 
a player call “Two Spades” on queen and six 


156 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

small ones, and nothing else. No harm came of 
it in that particular instance, because the third 
player happened to have a bad hand : but what 
reliance can be placed on a partner like that? 

I recently saw a striking instance of the reverse 
side of the medal, where the third player could 
thoroughly rely upon his partner. The dealer 
declared “Two Clubs,” the second player called 
“Two Diamonds,” the third and fourth players 
passed, and the dealer declared “Four Clubs” — 
four, mind you, although three would have been 
sufficient. The second player called “ Three Dia- 
monds,” and the third player then went “Two No 
Trumps” on the ace of diamonds and the king of 
spades — nothing else. A diamond was led, and the 
dealer put down eight clubs to the quart major; 
and they won the game, instead of losing it, as they 
would have done on the diamond call. The 
opponents could have got “five diamonds” as the 
cards happened to lie, but the winning cards 
were divided between their two hands, and they 
did not know their strength. That result was 
brought about simply through the third player 
knowing his partner, and having thorough confi- 
dence in the soundness of his partner’s call. 
With a strange partner, or with one he did 
not trust, the “Two No Trumps” call, on one 
ace and one king, would have been an im- 
possible one. 

The opportunity for estimating the value of 
the original declaration, from a previous knowledge 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. I 57 

of the dealer’s methods, is not confined to the 
dealer’s partner. The opponents can do it just 
as well. When an original declaration of “One 
No Trump” has been made by a player of the 
conservative order, it behoves the opponents to 
treat it with a due amount of respect, because it 
is almost certain to have power behind it. When 
it is made by a player who is known to be a 
very forward declarer, it lias nothing like the 
same significance. It may, of course, be quite a 
sound. call; but it may also be a very unsound 
one. The second player should be governed a 
great deal by his knowledge of the dealer’s 
methods in determining whether to overbid the 
dealer’s “no trump” declaration, or whether it 
will be wiser to leave it alone. This knowledge 
will be of still more use from a negative point 
of view. When a very forward declarer begins 
with “One Spade,” his opponents should im- 
mediately place him with a hand well below 
the average, and should not lose sight of that 
deduction. It ought to be of considerable use 
to them to know that one of the two hands 
opposed to them is a weak one, and that nothing 
much is to be feared from that quarter. Armed 
with this knowledge, they can declare with much 
greater freedom, and a “no trump” call which 
would have been a doubtful one, under other 
conditions, becomes quite a good one; but this 
knowledge can only be derived from a careful study 
of the dealer’s customary methods of declaring. 


158 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

The same principle applies, all along the line, 
in the bidding for the declaration. Some players 
always try to bid their opponents up, and some 
times make very risky calls in their endeavour to 
do so. Others play a more backward game, and 
never overbid a previous declaration without good 
cause. Just think how useful it must be for a 
player to be able to say to himself, “That call 
is certain to be a sound one,” or “That call is 
very likely to be a bluffing one.” Nothing but a 
personal knowledge of his opponents’ methods 
will enable him to do this. 

The very expert Auction Bridge player will en- 
deavour to vary his methods of declaring as much 
as possible, with the special object of making it 
diffioult for his opponents to draw these sort of 
inferences. Here, again, a thorough knowledge of 
the player, and of his capabilities, is most im- 
portant. Varying the method of procedure, from 
hand to hand, is a refinement of the game which 
not many players rise to. There are some who do 
it, but they are the few, not the many. The 
ordinary everyday Auction Bridge player has his 
own pet methods, which he believes in, and which 
he can generally be trusted to stick to, and to re- 
produce time after time. The great thing is to 
know those pet methods, so as to be prepared to 
read them correctly. For instance, some players 
believe strongly in the principle known as “keeping 
the flag flying,” and will nearly always declare above 
the value of their hand, when they think that their 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 59 

opponents are likely to win the game. Others are 
ultra-conservative, and pride themselves on rarely 
losing anything above the line on their own de- 
clarations. When such a player overcalls a previous 
bid, he can be trusted to have very substantial 
grounds for his calL 

There are certain players who give away a great 
deal of information by their mannerisms in de- 
claring. Sometimes you will see them evidently 
bursting with anxiety to make a declaration. 
Directly their turn arrives, out it comes, without a 
moment’s hesitation, and you know that the call, 
whatever it may be, is a strong one. At other 
times they will hesitate, go over their cards two or 
three times, obviously summing up the possibilities 
of their hand, and eventually make a half-hearted 
sort of call. The inference is too patent to need 
specifying. 

The observant player notes all these indications, 
and uses them to his own advantage; but they have 
no value for the unobservant, irresponsible player. 
He goes on in his own stolid, unsympathetic way, 
and perhaps wonders vaguely how it is that his 
quicker adversary seems to have such a much 
better grasp of the situation. 

So far we have only dealt with the declarations 
of the dealer and the second player, but the per- 
sonal element comes in more strongly still in 
the later phases of the bidding, when one side is 
bidding stoutly against the other. Some players 
never know when to stop. When once they get 


l6o AUCTION BRIDGE UP-IO-DATE. 


fairly started, bidding on a good hand, they will go 
on to almost any extent, if they are pushed up ; 
and these are the easiest of opponents to defeat. 
You can bid them up with safety, on a call which 
you know that you are not in the least likely to get, 
feeling sure that they will rise like fishes to the 
bait, until you get them altogether out of their 
depth. Then you double them, and probably score 
an amount, above the line, which was well worth 
running a little risk for. In playing that game it is 
absolutely essential to have a thorough knowledge 
of your opponents’ peculiarities. You must be 
quite sure that they belong to the type of players 
wno believe in trying to win the game at all hazards, 
otherwise you may fall into the net yourself. 

There are two distinct types, or schools, of players 
at Auction Bridge. The one school always go out 
for winning the game, if they can see any possible 
chance of so doing. The others are always on the 
look-out for a chance of doubling their opponents, 
and of scoring 200 or 300 points above the line. 
Here, again, a knowledge of which school your 
opponents belong to should be invaluable to you, 
and should influence you greatly in your most 
laudable endeavour to bid them up. If they belong 
to the former school, you can bid them up with the 
greatest freedom, knowing that they will go on to 
the fullest extent of their hands, and probably a 
good deal beyond that. If they belong to the 
latter school, you must exercise caution. They 
may be playing the same game on you, trying to 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. l6l 

get you out of your depth : and that last bid of 
yours, designed to drive them up to the doubling 
point, may result instead in your own undoing. 

As I said before, there are certain players who 
are always on the look-out for the chance of 
doubling, or of “ stinging,” as it is frequently 
called. It is an extremely dangerous practice to 
declare above the value of your hand in your en- 
deavour to bid such opponents up. They have 
an unpleasant habit of turning round and rending 
you. There are other players who never dream 
of “stinging” their adversaries on anything short 
of a practical certainty. It does not seem to enter 
into their calculations that doubling is an integral 
part, and a very important part, of the game of 
Auction Bridge. They miss the point altogether. 
Such players have been somewhat aptly termed 
“bumble bees” — possessing no sting; although, 
as a matter of natural history, I believe that 
bumble bees do possess a sting of sorts. 

These are easy opponents. When you know 
that there is but little chance of your declaration 
being doubled, you have a much freer hand, and 
you are in a position to take liberties. When, on 
the contrary, you have an idea that your opponent 
may be only bidding you up, possibly baiting a 
little trap for you, and waiting to pounce down 
upon you and double you, your game is necessarily 
somewhat cramped, and you are afraid to make a 
further declaration which you otherwise would 
have done. Here, again, is a fine personal dis- 
tinction to be drawn — between the opponent who 

M 


162 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


rarely, or never, doubles, and the one who will 
do so on the smallest provocation. They require 
to be treated on quite different lines. 

There are some players who are easily frightened 
by a double, and this is a personal peculiarity 
which is well worth noting. Many a successful 
bluff has been brought off against a player of this 
class. Here is an instance which occurred. The 
dealer declared “One Heart,” the second player 
passed, and the third player declared “One No 
Trump.” The fourth player had a bad hand, but 
he had five hearts headed by the queen. His 
hand was of no value at all against a “ no trump ” 
call, but it had a certain value against a call of 
“Two Hearts.” He knew the dealer well, and 
was quite sure that he would think it obligatory 
upon him to take his partner out of a doubled 
call. Therefore he doubled the “ One No Trump,” 
and it came off to perfection. The dealer declared 
“Two Hearts,” and succeeded in getting his con- 
tract ; but he only won two by cards, counting 16; 
whereas he and his partner would have won a big 
game if he had not been so easily frightened by 
the double. 

The following case, which also occurred in 
actual play, affords a still better example of the 
same thing. The dealer opened with “Two 
Hearts ” ; the second player declared “ Three 
Diamonds ” ; and the third player doubled. The 
fourth player had no diamonds at all, but he 3 iad 
quite a useful hand, with considerable strength in 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


the heart suit. His partner’s doubled call of 
“Three Diamonds” was a very bad one for him, 
and was certain to result in serious loss. There- 
fore, knowing his man well, he promptly re-doubled, 
simply with the object of inducing the dealer to 
declare “Three Hearts.” Again the bluff came 
off. The dealer called “ Three Hearts,” the 
second and third players passed, and the fourth 
player doubled the “ Three Hearts.” That ended 
the matter. The only possible call on which the 
dealer and his partner could get out of their 
trouble was “Three No Trumps,” which was mani- 
festly impossible; so it was left at “Three Hearts” 
doubled. There happened to be a rather peculiar 
distribution of the cards. The four hands were — 


* 9, 6, 3 

76 

4 A, Qn, 9, 5 
0 A, Knv, 9, 6, 4 


4 A, K, 8, 2 
7 9 

4 Knv, 4 
0 K, Q, 10, 7, 5, 3 



4 Q, Knv, 5, 4 
7 K, 8, 5, 3, 2 
4 K, 10, 6, 2 

0 (None) 


410,7 

A, Q, Knv, 10, 7, 4 
4 8, 7, 3 
0 8,2 


Y led the king of diamonds, and the declarer 

M2 


164 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


won only six tricks,- five in hearts (trumps), and 
one in clubs, losing 300 points above the line. 
The declarations were all quite sound ones, until 
A’s last call of “ Three Hearts.” He was frightened 
into this by Z’s re-double, and he was no doubt 
influenced to some extent by the 64 for honours 
in his own hand; but a gain of 64 points is of 
little avail against a loss of 300. 

Z’s re-double was a risky one, as it might have 
resulted in doubling his loss; but, as I have already 
stipulated, he knew his man, and this knowledge 
enabled him to convert a serious loss into an 
agreeable profit. The ruse is quite a common 
and well-known one, and many players would have 
tumbled to it — to use a colloquial expression — 
and would have left Z with his re-double. A, 
however, was not built that way, and he cost his 
unfortunate partner some 500 or 600 points. 

I could quote endless other instances of the 
same kind, but I think that I have said enough 
to illustrate the enormous value of this personal 
element in Auction Bridge, and that I have 
sufficiently shown how greatly the bidding for the 
declaration may be, and ought to be, influenced 
by a knowledge of other players’ idiosyncrasies. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 165 


CHAPTER IX. 


DOUBLING. 

In no point docs Auction Bridge differ so widely 
from its parent game of Bridge as in the value of 
doubling. At ordinary Bridge, doubling is of rare 
occurrence, except on a spade declaration. At 
Auction Bridge it is an integral part of the bidding 
for the declaration, and it has a very important 
bearing on the game itself. The primary object 
of a player in bidding up the declaration is, or 
should be, not to win the game as quickly as 
possible, but to endeavour to induce his opponents 
to declare above the value of their hands, until 
they reach a point when their declaration can be 
doubled with advantage. 

There is one very important feature about 
doubling, in regard to which Auction Bridge and 
ordinary Bridge are very different. When a declara- 
tion is doubled at ordinary Bridge, the declarer has 
no chance of getting out of his trouble. He is 
obliged to abide by his original declaration. At 
Auction Bridge, on the contrary, a player whose 
declaration has been doubled, or his partner, can 
slip out of it by making some other declaration, 
provided that it is of higher value; and this will 
nearly always occur when a declaration has been 


i66 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


doubled too soon. For this reason, it is hardly 
ever right to double a call of one trick in a suit, 
however strong the doubler’s hand may be, as the 
declarer will get out of the mess by declaring 
“One No Trump,” or two tricks in some other suit. 

I well remember falling into this error myself 
soon after I began to play Auction Bridge. The 
dealer, on my right, declared “One No Trump.” 
I held eight clubs, headed by the quart major; and, 
without stopping to think, I promptly doubled the 
“no trump” call, just as I should have done 
at ordinary Bridge. The result was that they 
branched to “Two Hearts,” of which I had only 
one ; and we lost four by cards and the game. 
That disaster came about through my not realising 
the difference between doubling at Auction and at 
ordinary Bridge. Had I possessed my present 
knowledge of the game, I should have passed the 
“ no trump ” declaration ; it would have been left 
at “One No Trump,” and we should have scored 
at least ioo points above the line, while our oppo- 
nents would, have scored nothing. 

That is quite a good object-lesson in doubling 
too soon, while the opponents have a chance of 
branching into some other, and probably better, 
declaration. 

Suppose that a declaration of “ One Heart ” is 
made, and that the next player has a hand on 
which he would not hesitate to double at ordinary 
Bridge, he should never do so at Auction. He 
should declare “One No Trump” if he has the 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 67 

smallest nucleus of a “no trump” hand ; and then, 
if the original declarer or his partner calls “Two 
Hearts,” he will be in a fine position to double, 
as the only possible means that the opponents will 
have of getting out of it will be to call “Three 
Diamonds,” which is rather a large undertaking. 

If he has no pretensions to declare “No 
Trumps,” he should call “Two Clubs” or “Two 
Diamonds,” if he can. do so without much danger 
of being doubled himself ; or, failing even that, he 
should pass, in the hope that his partner may be 
able to call something. If the call is left at 
“One Heart,” the declarer will probably fail to 
fulfil even that contract, and something will be 
scored above the line, although not so much ; but 
there is such a thing as being too greedy, and it 
often happens that premature doubling defeats 
its own ends by allowing the opponents to branch 
into another, and a less dangerous, declaration. 
The finesse of the game lies in judging when to 
try to force the opponents up to a point at which 
they can be advantageously doubled, and when to 
hold one’s hand. It sometimes happens that the 
would-be doubler is hoist with his own petard 
by getting doubled himself; but this is a risk 
which is well worth taking, and which does not 
often materialise. 

In bidding fear the declaration at Auction Bridge 
you should always have two definite objects in view. 
Your first object should be to win the game; your 
second, to bid your opponents up to a point at 


1 68 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


which you can safely double their declaration. 
There are some players who always go for the one 
object, and some who always go for the other. 
The two really work in very well together, and the 
proper combination of the two' is what constitutes 
skilful and intelligent bidding. 

At the commencement of the bidding, your aim 
will naturally be to make any declaration on which 
there is a chance of winning the game, or at any 
rate of making a good score. You make that 
declaration, and you are overcalled by your ad- 
versaries. What will you do then? You should 
ask yourself two questions. Firstly, “ Is there any 
chance of my winning the game, if I increase my 
call ? ” Secondly, “ Am I likely to be able to de- 
feat the other side, if they are driven up?” Very 
possibly the answer to both questions will be in the 
affirmative. There you have the two objects work- 
ing in together. You increase your call, and they 
also increase theirs. Then you have to ask yourself 
the same questions again ; but this time the second 
question, at any rate, should be easier to answer. 

If you think that you are certain to defeat them, 
double them at once, unless your prospect of 
winning the game is very nearly a certainty. Do 
not sacrifice the substance for the shadow by 
making a call on which there is the faintest chance 
of getting beaten, when you are practically certain 
to be able to defeat the other side. 

Let me give an instance. You declare ‘‘One 
No Trump” on a fairly good hand. Your oppo- 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 69 

nents call “Two Hearts.” You are well guarded in 
the heart suit — say king, ten, eight, three — so that 
it is doubtful whether they would get their “ Two 
Hearts”; but they might get it. You should de- 
clare “Two No Trumps,” again working the two 
objects together. If they retire from the contest, 
you have a chance of winning the game ; but if 
they amend their call to “ Three Hearts,” you can 
then double them with great advantage, as their 
chance of fulfilling their contract must be small 
indeed. This is the sort of position where some 
players, who are great believers in always trying the 
game, will go on and declare “Three No Trumps”; 
but the call must be a bad one. If there is any 
chance of winning three by cards at “No Trumps,” 
there can be no possibility of the opponents winning 
nine tricks with hearts as trumps. The stronger 
the “ no trump ” hand, the more impossible does it 
become for the other side to get “Three Hearts.” 
This is a plain case of sacrificing the substance for 
the shadow. 

Players who rarely, or never double, miss the 
true spirit, and the finesse, of the game altogether. 
There are plenty of such players. They declare up 
to the full value of their hand, and perhaps a little 
beyond it; but there the “Auction” part ends, as 
far as they are concerned. They think that there 
is no more in the game. They have no idea of the 
possibilities which are always running through the 
mind of the skilful player, and which he is always 
trying to work up to — it is a sealed book to them. 


i7o 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


Judicious doubling is the finest feature in the 
game of Auction Bridge. It is here that the good 
player makes his profit, and that the inferior player 
misses his chances. All the big rubbers, of 1000 
points or more, that one hears of, owe their magni- 
tude to judicious doubling. It is not only the life 
and soul of the game, but also it is the paying part 
of the game. The player who never doubles may 
hold exceptionally good cards for a time, and may 
win more rubbers than he loses during that time, 
but you may depend upon it that he will not be a 
winner in the long run. 

There is a great deal in doubling to the score. 
In your commendable anxiety to double your 
opponents, you must not lose sight of the fact 
that their score below the line will be doubled 
if they succeed in fulfilling their contract. If you 
double a declaration of “Two Hearts” at the 
score of love-all, you may be giving away the 
game by a rash double; but if your opponents 
are already 16 or more up, it is quite a different 
matter. The possible extra loss which you may 
incur by doubling is now of very little moment, 
as they will win the game in any case, if they 
fulfil their contract, and it is even possible that 
your double of the “Two Hearts” declaration 
may frighten them into branching into “Three 
Diamonds” or “Two No Trumps,” which they will 
have still less chance of getting. 

I once saw a very pretty instance in a hand 
which I was watching. The dealer was a game and 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 171 

24 up, and he declared an original “no trump.” 
The second and third players passed, and the fourth 
player doubled. The fourth player’s hand was — 


♦ King, 7, 2 

Queen, 10, 8, 4 

* . .. Knave, 8 

0 King, 9, 7, 5 


This would appear to be quite an impossible 
hand on which to double an original “ no trump ” 
declaration, probably based, as it was, on three 
aces; but there was great method in the madness. 
The fourth player, holding the above hand, could 
see no possibility of defeating a call of “ One No 
Trump,” but he had four of each red suit; and, if he 
could induce either of his opponents to branch 
into two tricks in a red suit, there was a chance, 
although a small one, of winning six tricks, and so 
saving the game. It succeeded to perfection. The 
dealer passed, and the third player, in order to get 
his partner out of the doubled “ no trump,” declared 
“ Two Hearts ” on king, knave, and two small ones. 
The one ace which the dealer did not hold was the 
ace of hearts ; and, although they won the odd 
trick, they failed to get their contract, and lost 
66 points on the hand — 50 for the one under-trick, 
and 16 for honours — instead of winning the game, 
as they would easily have done on the original “no 
trump” call. The double was a very desperate 
bluff, and one not to be recommended to beginners, 
although it came off in this particular case ; but I 


172 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


quote it to illustrate the sort of chances which are 
sometimes taken by good players when they are in 
a tight corner. 

When the declaration has run into very big 
figures, such as “Four Hearts ”or “Four Diamonds,” 
it is not necessary to have even moderate strength in 
trumps in order to double, provided that you can 
win tricks in the other suits. To engage to win 
ten tricks out of the thirteen is a very big under- 
taking, and the declarer is not in the least likely to 
have nine or ten trumps ; he has undoubtedly got 
a great many — say six, or possibly seven — and the 
remaining three tricks will have to be picked up 
out of the other suits. If you can command the 
other three suits, it is quite plain that he will not be 
able to pick up those other three tricks, and he will 
fail in his contract, or “ come unstitched,” to use the 
popular phrase ; and you should therefore double, 
so as to increase his prospective loss and your 
prospective gain. 

The following is a hand which occurred in play, 
and which is quite a good example of the above 
theory. The dealer, A, held — 

Ace, Queen, 10, 4 

S? King, 7, 2 

«f» Ace, King, 8, 3 

0 3,2 

The bidding proceeded : — 

A, One No Trump ; Y, No ; B, Two Hearts ; 

Z, Three Diamonds. 

A, Three Hearts ; Y, Four Diamonds ; B, No ; Z, No. 

A, “I double Four Diamonds”; Y, B, Z, Content. 


AUCTION ERIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 73 

In this case, A doubled with only two little 
trumps in his hand, but he was quite right to 
do so. YZ had obviously called above their hands 
to prevent AB winning the rubber — to keep the 
flag flying — and they could have no chance of 
winning ten tricks, unless Z had nine diamonds 
in his hand ; and this could not be the case, as 
Y had supported his partner by declaring “ Four 
Diamonds,” thereby showing considerable strength 
in the trump suit, as he could not have much in 
the other suits. 

The supporting a partner by showing him that 
you can afford him some help in the suit, is 
a very good thing, and should always be done; 
but it also affords a good deal of information 
to an intelligent adversary, by telling him 
that the declarer has not got an overwhelmingly 
long suit, but that the trumps are more or less 
divided. 

There is all the difference in the world between 
a double which will enable the opponents to win 
the game in case of their exactly fulfilling their 
contract, and what is known as a “free” double. 
A free double occurs when the opponents have 
made a declaration which will win the game if 
they fulfil their contract ; so that the only damage 
done, should the double fail, will be the loss 
of a few extra points, which is not ot vital 
importance. 

If the declaring side call “Three Diamonds” 
with their score at 12, the opponents have the 


174 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

chance of a free double. A call of “Two No 
Trumps ” at the score of 6 or more, is also a free 
double ; or a call of “ Four Hearts ” at any point 
of the score, or any call which is sufficient in 
itself to win the game if the contract is fulfilled. 
A proper appreciation of the difference between 
these two situations is a great element of success 
at Auction Bridge. A doubtful double is always 
a bad one when it will enable the opponents to 
win the game if it fails ; but the same double 
becomes quite a good one when they would win 
the game in any case, and the only risk incurred 
is the loss of a few extra points. 

Under the new rules, a bonus of 50 points above 
the line has been given to the declarer who fulfils 
his contract when he has been doubled. Person- 
ally, I consider that this was a mistake, as the 
tendency of it must be to discountenance doubling, 
which is one of the most interesting features of the 
game. But even with this extra bonus of 50 points, 
the possible gain on a double of a very high declara- 
tion, such as four tricks in a suit, is so much 
greater than the possible loss, that the risk is well 
worth taking, always provided that it is a free 
double. 

A double of a one-trick declaration is nearly 
always bad, except in the case of an original spade 
call; and a double of a two-trick declaration is 
dangerous on anything much short of a certainty, 
as the prospective loss is then greater than the 
prospective gain ; but when you get up to declara- 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 75 

tions of three or four tricks, the situation is altered 
entirely, as nine or ten tricks take a tremendous 
lot of getting, and it is quite possible that the 
declarer may fail to fulfil his contract by a very 
large margin. For every double of a high declara- 
tion that fails, there will be three or four fine 
chances missed ; and the good player — or I should 
rather say, the successful player — is ever on the 
look-out for an opportunity to double, when his 
opponents have been forced up to making an 
exceptionally high call. 

Sometimes it will happen that one side has all 
the strength in the heart suit, and the other side 
all the strength in diamonds, and they will go 
on calling against one another, sooner than leave 
the others in, until they have both got rather out 
of their depth. In that case it will probably be 
the high cards in the black suits which will turn 
the scale; and a player who has taken no part 
in the bidding at all, can occasionally step in at 
the finish and double to great advantage, when 
the bidding has got very high. The situation is 
so easy to understand. One player has a very 
strong suit of hearts, and the other a very strong 
suit of diamonds. Neither of them can afford 
to leave the other in to win the game, and neither 
of them dare call “ Two No Trumps ” for fear of 
the long suit declared against him ; so they go on 
bidding against one another, until the player who 
can command the two black suits becomes 
practically the master of the situation. 


176 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

This happens far more often than one would 
expect. As I said before, when the declaration 
gets very high, beyond the compass of an ordinary 
good hand, it is not necessary to hold strength 
in the declared suit in order to double with suc- 
cess. It may happen that the declarer has a 
phenomenal trump hand, but phenomena are ne- 
cessarily very rare, and it will generally be found 
that the declarer has gone beyond his strength, 
in his anxiety to prevent his opponents winning 
the game, and that high cards in the other suits 
will defeat him. At ordinary Bridge, it is a fatal 
policy to double a suit declaration without con- 
siderable strength in trumps, because the declarer 
has only to win seven tricks in order to score ; 
but when he contracts to win nine or ten tricks, 
and scores nothing unless he wins those nine or ten 
tricks, the situation is altered altogether, and trumps 
become of much smaller value, compared to aces 
and kings of the other suits. 

There seems to be a prevalent idea among 
players that, when a declaration is doubled, it is 
imperative upon the partner of the declarer to 
get him out of his trouble by making some other 
call, which is usually a quite unjustifiable one, 
and one which only leads to worse difficulties. 
Certainly, the partner ought to relieve the situation 
if he can do so with comparative safety; but to 
make a wild irresponsible call, because one’s 
partner’s declaration has been doubled, is only 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


177 


jumping Out of the frying-pan into the fire, and 
is generally attended by grave disaster. Also, it 
is by no means a certainty th&t the declarer is 
anxious to be relieved of his doubled declara- 
tion ; he may be quite content to stay where 
he is, especially now that there is an added 
bonus of 50 points if he succeeds in fulfilling 
his contract. 

The following case, which occurred in a rubber 
in which I was playing, will illustrate what I mean: — 


♦ 6 

y 7 

«f> A, K, Q, Knv, 5 
0 K, Q, 10, 5, 3, 2 


♦ A,K,Q,Kv,7,2 
y Ace, Queen 
+ 10,3 
0 Ace, 9, 6 


♦ 10,9 

K, Knv, 9, 6, 3 
4. 8, 7, 6, 4, 2 
0 8 



4 8, 5, 4, 3 
V 10, 8, 5, 4, 2 

* 9 

0 Knave, 7, 4 


A, One Spade ; Y, One No Trump ; B, Two Diamonds ; 
Z, No. 

A, No; Y, Two No Trumps; ?», Double Two No Trumps; 
Z, Three Hearts. 

A, Double Three Hearts ; Y, B, and Z, Content. 

N 


178 AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

The bidding was all perfectly sound and rational 
up to, and including, B’s double of “Two No 
Trumps.” He had five certain tricks in clubs, and 
the diamonds well guarded ; and his partner must 
have something in hearts, as neither of the oppo- 
nents had called hearts. Z’s declaration of “ Three 
Hearts” was simply ridiculous — there is no other 
word for it — but he was so imbued with this mis- 
taken idea that he was bound to take his partner 
out of the doubled call, that he managed to convert 
a fine winning position into a bad losing one. If 
he had let matters alone, as he ought to have done, 
his partner would have got his contract, and they 
would have scored 48 below the line and 80 above ; 
instead of that, they lost 300 points, less 16 for 
honours. 

When a declaration has been doubled, the 
declarer can sometimes bluff his opponents out 
of their strong position by re-doubling, even when 
he has no possible chance of getting his contract. 
Suppose that A declares “One Heart,” Y overcalls 
him with “Two Diamonds,” B doubles “Two 
Diamonds,” Z and A both pass. If Y re-doubles, 
B is not able to go any further, as only one re- 
double is allowed, so he has to pass ; and A, when 
it comes round to his turn, is almost certain to 
call “Two Hearts,” not knowing how strong Y’s 
re-double may be. I saw this exact position 
occur once, when Y had made a very weak 
“Two Diamonds” call, in order to force A up 
to “Two Hearts.” B doubled, Y re-doubled, 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


179 


and A fell right into the trap and called 
“Two Hearts,” only to be promptly doubled by 
Y, who certainly may be said to have had the 
best of the argument. 

This kind of bluff is, of course, a very dangerous 
proceeding, as it entails a loss of 200 points per 
trick if the opponents refuse to rise to the bait, 
and leave the declarer with his re-doubled de- 
claration; but desperate measures are sometimes 
required to get out of desperate situations, and 
the sensation of bringing off this bluff is a very 
pleasing one. It is necessary to know one’s 
opponents’ characteristics very well to be justified 
in attempting it. Against some opponents, who 
are very fond of having the last say, it would be 
almost a certainty ; but against others, who under- 
stand the game thoroughly, and are not in the 
least likely to be taken in, it would be too 
dangerous to try. 




i8o 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE OPENING LEAD. 

I take it for granted that my readers have served 
their apprenticeship at the game of ordinary 
Bridge, and that they are thoroughly conversant 
with the accepted opening leads, both against a 
“No Trump” call, and against a suit declaration, 
as set forth in the numerous Bridge text bcoks. 
Assuming this knowledge, it is not necessary to 
go through the various leads in detail, but only 
to point out in what respects the opening lead 
at Auction Bridge differs from its fellow at 
ordinary Bridge. There is one point of difference 
which is worth noting — namely, that the first lead 
at Auction Bridge is always up to the declaring 
hand, never through it, as is the case at ordinary 
Bridge, when the declaration has been made by 
the Dummy. 

“NO TRUMPS.” 

The opening lead at “ No Trumps ” depends 
a good deal upon what has already taken place; 
whether there has been any previous bidding, or 
whether the dealer has made an original declara- 
tion of “ One No Trump,” which has not been 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


181 


overcalled. In the latter case, which is a very 
common one, the game is precisely the same as 
at ordinary Bridge, and should be played upon 
precisely the same lines. The leader should open 
his numerically strongest suit, and should lead his 
fourth-best, unless' he holds one of the recognised 
combinations of high cards. Do not be tempted 
to lead out a winning card first in order to have 
a “ look round . ” There is no more object for 
this proceeding at Auction Bridge than at the 
ordinary game; the principle is exactly the same, 
and the hard-and-fast rules laid down for the 
leader in all the Bridge books, should be just as 
strictly observed. There is only one point of 
difference, and that a small one. At ordinary 
Bridge, when the leader holds a red and a black 
suit of nearly equal value, it is always considered 
better to open the red suit in preference to the 
black one, up to a “ No Trump ” call. There is 
not much in the idea at Bridge, but at Auction 
Bridge the position is exactly reversed. 

When the dealer has made an original call of 
“ One No Trump,” you are a good deal more likely 
to hit on his weak spot by leading a black suit up 
to him than by leading a red suit, for reasons which 
were explained on page 131. The most common 
basis of an original “ No Trump ” call by the dealer 
is that he is well guarded in both red suits, and not 
very strong in one or both of the black suits, and 
he calls “ No Trumps ” at once in order to prevent 
his opponents making a call in a black suit. 


t 82 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


Many good Bridge players, when they have to 
open the game from a hopeless hand, occasionally 
depart from the rule of opening their numerically 
strongest suit, and lead what they hope will be a 
strengthening card for their partner. At ordinary 
Bridge, the lead selected for this purpose is always 
a heart. At Auction Bridge, under similar con- 
ditions, the lead should be the highest of a black 
suit, never a red one. This little tip is well worth 
remembering, and will sometimes prove very useful. 

When the leader’s partner has made a previous 
declaration, and has been overcalled with “No 
Trumps,” the situation is altered. In this case, it is 
generally advisable for the leader to open his part- 
ner’s suit rather than his own, for the obvious reason 
that a suit which is led up to must be easier to 
establish than a suit which has to be led away from. 

In opening a partner’s suit, the highest of two 
or three cards should always be led, whatever they 
may be, and the lowest of four, unless one of the 
four is the ace, when the ace should be led first, 
followed by the lowest of the remaining three. 
Some players always lead the highest of their 
partner’s suit, whether they hold three or four ; but 
1 do not agree with this at all. If you have four 
cards of a suit of which your partner has pre- 
sumably got five, there are very few to be divided 
between the other two hands, and the lead of 
your highest is very unlikely to help him to finesse 
successfully; but it may be of the greatest use to 
him to know that you have four of the suit, as 
he can then place the remaining cards exactly. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 83 

Say that you hold knave, eight, five, two — if 
you lead the two, your partner knows that you 
have either three more, or no more, and he will 
generally be able to judge which it is; whereas, 
if you lead the knave, it tells him nothing what- 
ever about the rest of the suit : you may have 
one more, or two more, or no more — he certainly 
will not read you with three more. 

I need hardly say that you must be -careful not 
to block the suit. If there is any chance of doing 
that, lead a high one by all means ; or, if you hold 
any sort of head sequence, such as queen, knave, 
or knave, ten, with two others, lead the highest 
of the sequence, and keep a low card to unblock 
with. 

I began by saying that it is “generally” ad- 
visable to open your partner’s suit in preference 
to your own ; but do not run away with the idea 
that there is any obligation to do so. The 
combination of the two hands is the thing to 
aim at, and it is just as great a mistake to play 
for your partner’s hand to the exclusion of your 
own, as to play for your own hand to the 
exclusion of his. If you have a good suit of 
your own, such as king, queen, knave to five, 
open that suit first, and lead his suit afterwards, 
when you have made your own winning cards ; 
but if you have no suit in your hand which will 
be established with the loss of one trick, then it 
is right to go for your partner’s declared suit 
at once. 


184 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


When your partner has made no bid, and 
given no indication at all about his hand, 
you should open your own best suit just as you 
would at ordinary Bridge, notwithstanding that 
the declarer has called “Two No Trumps” after 
you have called “Two Hearts” or “Two Diamonds,” 
thereby showing that he is guarded in your suit. 
Suppose that you hold ace, queen to five or six 
hearts, and that the opponent on your right has 
overcalled your “Two Hearts” with “Two No 
Trumps”: the king of hearts is practically marked 
in the declarer’s hand, and it is certainly very 
tempting to try to put your partner in with some 
other lead, so as to get your suit led through the 
declaring hand ; but it is a bad game to play, 
although it is frequently done. If you open your 
heart suit in the usual way, with your fourth- 
best, it is certain that you will give away the 
first trick in it, perhaps very cheaply ; but directly 
your partner gets in — and remember that you 
are supposing him to have a card of entry — he 
will return your suit through the king, and you 
will make every other trick in it, unless the king 
was originally three times guarded. Also, by 
opening another suit at random, you may cut 
your partner’s hand up badly ; whereas, if you 
open your own suit, and the declarer wins the 
first trick, however cheaply, he then has to lead 
up to your partner, and there must be a better 
chance of his winning a trick when he is fourth 
in hand than when the declarer is lying over him. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


185 


On the same principle, some players will not 
begin with their partner’s declared suit, because 
“ Two No Trumps” has been called over his “Two 
Hearts” or “Two Diamonds”; but what can be the 
sense of this ? The suit has got to be led sooner 
or later, and the declarer must make his winning 
card or winning t:ards in it ; and surely the 
declarer of the suit must have a better chance of 
establishing it when it is led tQ him, than if he has 
to open it himself up to nothing in his partner’s 
hand. 

Every now and again a trick may be lost by the 
leader opening his longest suit, or his partner’s 
declared suit, up to a call of two or three tricks in 
“no trumps”; but it is the method which pays best 
in the long run, and 1 have seen a great many 
games lost simply because the original leader would 
not play the hand on the recognised lines of 
ordinary Bridge. 

On one occasion our opponents were a game 
and 24 up ; the player on my right dealt and made 
an original call of “One Diamond.” My hand 
was — 

Ace, Knave, 9, 5 

7 Ace, King, 8, 3 

4* Ace, 8, 3 

0 7, 4 

I declared “One No Trump.” My left-hand 
adversary called “Two Diamonds,” the others 
passed, and I called “Two No Trumps,” more 
with the object of keeping the flag flying than 


i86 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


with any idea ot getting my “Two No Trumps,” 
and hoping, from the diamond declaration on both 
sides, that there would not be more than five in 
one hand. To my great surprise, the leader led 
the queen of hearts, saying, as he did so, “ He 
thinks I am going to lead a diamond, but I am 
not.” My partner put down six clubs, headed by 
king, queen, knave, and the king of spades, and 
the result was that we won a small Slam. The 
leader had ace, knave, and two other diamonds ; 
his partner, the original declarer, had six diamonds 
headed by king, queen ; and my partner had the 
ten single. If the diamond suit had been opened 
to begin with, we should have lost six tricks in 
diamonds, and our contract as well. As the hand 
was played, we won the game, and eventually the 
rubber. That was a very extreme case, but it 
serves to illustrate my argument. 

A spade declaration by the dealer is not an 
indication of strength in the spade suit, and 
must never be regarded as such for purposes of 
opening the game against a “no trump” call. If 
your partner has called nothing but spades, unless 
it was an original call of “Two Spades,” you must 
disregard his declaration altogether, and open 
your own long suit. 

“No trump ” declarations are made very lightly 
at Auction Bridge — on considerably less strength 
than is generally held to be necessary at ordinary 
Bridge ; and therefore it is the more incumbent 
upon the leader to follow the lines which experi- 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 87 

ence has proved to be the most paying against a 
“ no trump ” call, by opening his numerically 
strongest suit, or his partner’s declared suit. The 
establishment and bringing in of a long suit has 
always been recognised as the best means of 
defending a “ no trump ” call at Bridge, and pre- 
cisely the same argument applies to Auction 
Bridge. 

The one exception to the opening lead following 
the lines of ordinary Bridge, is when the third 
player has doubled a “ no trump ” call. There is 
now no question of the “ heart convention,” or of 
the “short-suit convention.” No such conventions 
exist at Auction Bridge at all, and the leader has 
to rely solely on his own judgment. The double 
of a call of “One No Trump,” by the third player, 
is very rare at Auction Bridge. When it does 
occur, the leader ought to open his own best 
suit, if he has one of any ttick-making value ; if 
not, he should lead the highest card of his weakest 
black suit, as his partner would have called “Two 
Hearts,” or “Two Diamonds,” if he had been 
very strong in either red suit. 

When the third player doubles a “no trump” 
call, it is nearly always a call of “Two No 
Trumps,” or “ Three No Trumps”; and in that 
case there will have been previous bidding, and 
the dealer will be in no doubt as to which suit to 
open. If it should happen that he and his 
partner have made calls in different suits, he 
should open his partner’s suit in preference to 


i88 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


his own, unless his own suit is already established. 
When this double occurs, the position is nearly 
always clearly defined, and there is rarely any 
doubt about the best opening lead. 

SUIT DECLARATIONS. 

The opening lead against a suit declaration 
should be governed by the same general principles 
as at ordinary Bridge ; but it is affected to some 
extent by the value of the declaration, whether it 
is one, or two, or three, or even four tricks. When 
the declaration is a comparatively low one, such as 
one or two tricks, the Bridge principles hold 
good; but when it is a very high one — say, 
“Four Diamonds 4f — every trick that you can win 
becomes of such great value, that your object 
should be to annex tricks as quickly as possible, 
before the declarer has time to get any discards in 
either hand. 

The opening lead of an ace, bad as I have 
always held it to be at ordinary Bridge, becomes 
quite a good one under these conditions, as it at 
least secures one trick, and it enables you to see 
what possibilities there may be of picking up the 
other two or three which are required. 

If your partner has called any suit, other than 
spades, or has doubled any suit, that should be 
your first lead in nine cases out of ten ; but even 
then, if you are lucky enough to hold the ace, king 
of another suit, you should lead the king first, so 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 89 

as to show your partner how to put you in again, 
in case he should want his suit led up to him a 
second time. 

Just as in the “no trump” game, there is no 
obligation to open with your partner’s suit unless 
you think it advisable to do so. If you have a 
suit of your own in which you can win one or two 
tricks — say, king, queen, knave, and another — you 
should lead that suit in preference to your part- 
ner’s, as you have distinct strength there, and your 
partner’s call may not have been a very strong one ; 
but when you have no suit in your own hand which 
you can open to advantage, then you should lead 
the highest card of your partner’s declared suit, 
whatever it may be. There is no object in showing 
your partner that you have four of his suit against a 
strong suit declaration, as there can be no possible 
chance of bringing it in; therefore lead your highest, 
and hope that it may be of some use to him. 

The only exception to this is when you hold a 
singleton. The singleton lead is a strong weapon 
of defence at ordinary Bridge, and it is a still 
stronger one at Auction Bridge against a high de- 
claration. Many and many a call is defeated by 
the lead of a singleton, which must have succeeded 
with any other opening. Even if your partner has 
made a strong declaration by calling two or three 
tricks in a suit, your singleton is still the best lead, 
especially if you are guarded in trumps. 

Suppose your partner has called “Two Dia- 
monds,” and been overcalled with “Two Hearts.” 


190 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


You hold ace and two little hearts, and a single 
club. You open with your single club ; if, as is 
probable, the declarer wins the first club trick, you 
can stop the trump lead at once, and then lead a 
diamond to put your partner in, and he will give 
you your force at once. If you had opened the 
diamond suit first, you would probably not have 
had the chance of showing your partner that you 
wanted a force, until it was too late. 

Failing any of the above combinations, if your 
partner has given you no indication, and you have 
a moderate hand, your opening lead should be 
carefully designed to do as little harm as possible 
before the Dummy hand is exposed. The very 
useful Bridge lead of a trump through the de- 
claring hand does not exist, as the first lead at 
Auction Bridge is always up to the declarer ; so 
that refuge is denied you, and it is sometimes very 
difficult to know what to do. An ace, king suit, 
or a king, queen suit is of course the best ; 
failing these, anything in the shape of a sequence 
is useful, although the sequence only consists of 
two cards. The highest of queen, knave, and 
another, or of knave, ten, and another, is not a bad 
opening lead. If you have not got any one of 
those, you should lead the highest card of a weak 
suit, a doubleton, or a suit of three small cards. 
The great thing to avoid is leading away from 
guarded high cards, such as king and two others, 
queen, ten, and two others, or ace, knave, and 
another. Any suit is a bad one to open in 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 191 

which you will probably be able to win a trick, 
or perhaps two tricks, if you do not open it 
yourself; and the higher the declaration is, the 
more important it becomes to treasure up any 
well-guarded high card which may win a trick if 
it is led up to. 

When the declaration is a very high one, such as 
three tricks in a red suit, every possible trick in the 
other suits is of such great importance that it will 
often pay you best to lead a trump right up to the 
declaring hand. Suppose that your hand is — 

^ Ace, Knave, 7 

W King, Knave, 9, 6, 4 

King, 9, 5 

0 5, 4 

You have called “Two Hearts,” and have been 
overcalled, on your right, with “ Three Diamonds.” 
The declarer has, obviously, the entire command 
of the diamond suit ; but he has probably got to 
collect three tricks in outside suits, and he may find 
it very difficult to do so, unless you help him by 
leading some other suit up to him. If you put 
him in with a trump lead, he will extract all the 
trumps which are against him ; but then he has to 
open another suit himself, and he does so at a 
manifest disadvantage. 

The damage frequently done by that first blind 
lead is so very great, that it is worth risking some- 
thing in order to get out of it, and the risk of 
leading a trump up to a three-trick call is very 


192 AUCTION BRIDGE UR-TO-DATE. 

slight. If the cards are at all equally divided, the 
opening of a fresh suit will probably entail a loss of 
one trick in that suit to the side which has to open 
it ; and every trick is of enormous importance with 
a high call. It may seem a strong measure to open 
the game with a trump lead up to the declarer ; but 
when you hold a well-guarded hand against a high 
trump call, it is often a lesser evil than opening one 
of your guarded suits. 

When your partner has doubled a suit declaration, 
the situation, as regards the opening lead, remains 
very much the same. It can never be right to lead 
him a trump. That is probably the very last thing 
that he wants. If the declaration has been a very 
high one, it does not even follow that he has any 
strength in the trump suit ; he is probably guarded in 
trumps, and very strong in the other suits. If he 
has made a previous suit declaration, you should 
lead his suit at once; if not, you should lead an 
ace, if you have one, so as to see the Dummy hand 
before proceeding further. If you have no winning 
card to lead, you should open your best suit — not 
your numerically best, but any suit in which you can 
afford him any assistance. If you have a singleton, 
and one or two small trumps, you should lead the 
singleton in preference to any other opening ; but 
you should hot now open a weak suit, as the aspect 
of affairs has changed, and your object should be 
to show your partner where you are able to assist 
him, rather than to play a purely defensive game. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


193 


CHAPTER XI. 


THE PLAY OF THE DECLARER. 

The player of the two hands at Auction Bridge 
(the declarer, as he is commonly called) has his 
task rendered somewhat easier for him by previous 
declarations which have been made. At ordinary 
Bridge the dealer starts with the knowledge of 
what strength is against him, but he has to pick up 
his information as to how this strength is dis- 
tributed, as best he can, from the subsequent fall 
of the cards. The declarer at Auction Bridge has 
this information vouchsafed to him, more often 
than not, by the previous declarations, and there- 
fore the play of the hand is more simple than at 
the ordinary game. It is very important for the 
declarer to remember all previous declarations 
which have been made by his opponents, as they 
will not only assist him to take finesses the right 
way, but they will also help him enormously in 
counting the cards towards the end of the 
hand. 

The previous declarations have a strong nega- 
tive value, as well as a positive one. There are 
certain declarations which are the obvious ones 
with which to overcall a previous call, such c . as 
“ One Heart ” over “ One Diamond,” or two tricks 
o 


194 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


in either red suit over a call of “One No Trump,” 
and when the opponents do not make the obvious 
call, there is a strong presumption that they are 
not possessed of the requisite strength. A clever 
player is often able to draw valuable deductions, 
not so much from the calls which his opponents 
have made, as from obvious calls which they have 
not made, and which they would have been 
certain to make if they had been in a position 
to do so. This is a phase of the game which 
is generally overlooked, but it is a very useful 
one, and one which will sometimes enable the 
declarer to read the other hands in a way which 
appears to be little short of miraculous to the 
unintelligent onlooker. 

The principal point in which the play of the 
declarer at Auction Bridge differs from the play 
of the dealer at ordinary Bridge is, that his first 
consideration must always be to fulfil his contract, 
before he thinks about winning the game. It 
frequently happens that the player of the two 
hands, either at “no trumps” or with a heart 
declaration, can see a certainty of winning two 
by cards ; but he has the option of taking a 
finesse which will win the game if it succeeds, 
and will only result in the gain of one odd 
trick if it fails. At ordinary Bridge it is always 
right to go for the game, provided that the odd 
trick is secure ; but at Auction Bridge, if the 
contract is “Two No Trumps” or “Two Hearts,” 
it would be very bad play to risk losing the 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 95 

contract for the possibility of winning the game, 
even if winning the game carried the rubber 
with it. 

The penalty for failing to fulfil the contract 
is so heavy, that no such risks ought to be 
taken. First make sure of your contract, and 
then seo what more you can do. There is not 
the same occasion as there is at ordinary Bridge 
to strain every nerve in order to win the game, 
whatever your opponents’ score may be, because 
your opponents will have no advantage on the 
next deal. At ordinary Bridge, when your op- 
ponents are within a few points of game, there 
is a strong probability that they will win the 
game on their next deal if you do not win it on 
yours, and therefore it behoves you to run any 
reasonable risks ; but at Auction Bridge this 
consideration does not come in at all. You will 
have exactly the same chances on the next deal 
as they will have, and the first and paramount 
consideration is to make the number of tricks 
which you have contracted to make, before 
thinking about anything else. Never lose sight 
of that. It is the one guiding star for the play 
of the declarer. 

It is even more important to have a definite 
plan of campaign, and to form an estimate of 
the probable result of the hand directly the 
Dummy is exposed, as declarer at Auction Bridge, 
than as dealer at ordinary Bridge. Sometimes 
you may be able to see that a certain scheme 
02 


9 6 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


of play will win the game, if it is successful ; but 
when its not succeeding will entail the loss of 
your contract, put it behind you at once, and go 
for the certainty of getting what you have under- 
taken to get. Therein lies the road to safety 
and to ultimate success. In going for larger, but 
uncertain, possibilities lies the road to ruin. 

On some unhappy occasions you will see at 
once that you have no chance of fulfilling your 
contract. When that is the case, you should try 
to secure what you can, and to minimise your 
loss as much as possible ; not go for wild chances 
in the hope of squeezing out of an impossible 
position — chances which will probably result in 
very serious loss. Losing 50 points above the line 
is no very grievous matter, but losing 150 or 200 
points is serious, and will take a great deal of 
getting back against careful opponents. 

The declarer can sometimes draw useful infer- 
ences from the opening lead, when there has 
been previous bidding for the declaration. Say 
that the leader has called “Two Diamonds,” and 
has been overcalled, on his right, with “Two 
Hearts.” If he does not open with a diamond, 
the declarer knows that he has not got both 
ace and king of diamonds, nor the king and 
queen, but that he wants the suit led up to him 
by his partner, for purposes of finessing. If the 
third player has called a suit, and the leader 
opens with a small card of another suit, it is 
almost a certainty that the card led is a singleton, 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 1 97 

and the ace should be put on at once if it is in 
the Dummy hand. 

An intelligent and observant player will draw 
many useful inferences from the previous bidding, 
and the negative inferences will be quite as use- 
ful to him as the positive ones. When a player 
has called two tricks in a suit, it does not require 
any great amount of intelligence to infer that he 
is strong in that suit — that is what I call a positive 
inference. The negative inferences are drawn from 
what a player does not declare. When the third 
player calls “Two Spades,” there is the direct 
inference that he has neither the nucleus of a 
“ no trump ” hand, nor a fairly good suit of 
either hearts or diamonds. When a player has 
called “One Diamond,” and has been overcalled 
with “ One Heart,” if his partner does not support 
him with a call of “Two Diamonds,” both oppo- 
nents should realise that the partner has a very 
moderate hand, with no support in the diamond 
suit, and no great strength in the other suits. 

These sort of examples could be multiplied to 
any extent, and the inferences that can be drawn 
in this way are extremely valuable, both in the 
bidding and in the subsequent play of the hand. A 
curious feature of the game is that so many players, 
even good players, seem to fail to notice these infer- 
ences at all, or do not regard them as being reliable. 
“ How could I tell that so-and-so had not got this 
or that high card ? ” they will ask, after the hand. 
The obvious answer to that question would be, 


198 AUCTION FRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 

“ If he had held it, he would certainly have sup- 
ported his partner’s call,” or “he would have 
declared ‘no trumps.’ ” A careful observation of 
the high cards which a player produces in the 
early stages of the game will often be of great 
assistance in placing other high cards towards the 
end of the hand. 

To attempt to give any instruction, or even any 
hints, as to the way in which the player of the 
two hands should conduct his business, would 
merely be a repetition of what has already been 
written so often about the play of the dealer at 
ordinary Bridge, Every Bridge player of any ex- 
perience knows it all by heart ; and what applies to 
the one game applies equally well to the other. 
After the first card is led, the declarer can see 
twenty-seven out of the fifty-two cards, and he is 
bound to have gathered some information, either 
positive or negative, from the previous bidding 
for the declaration. If he cannot, under these 
conditions, play his cards to the best advantage, 
lie is beyond all hope, and no amount of instruction 
will ever help him. 




AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


199 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE PLAY OF THE OPPOSITION. 

After the final declaration has been accepted, and 
the first card led, the play of the cards at Auction 
Bridge hardly differs at all from that of ordinary 
Bridge. The principles involved are the same, 
the lines of play are the same, and the methods 
employed by the best players are identically the 
same in the one game as in the other. Even the 
conventions are the same, with the single exception 
of the heart convention, in answer to a double of “no 
trumps.” The “ call for a ruff,” the “call for a suit,” 
the “echo” at “no trumps” to show four in the 
suit which your partner has opened, the lead of the 
ace before the king to show only two, all obtain at 
Auction Bridge just the same as in the ordinary 
game. 

It would only be a waste of time and space to go 
over the well-trodden ground once more, and to 
enlarge upon the general principles of play with 
which my readers are already so well acquainted ; 
therefore I shall content myself with drawing 
attention to a few minor points in which there is a 
slight difference, or which I consider need to be 
specially emphasised. 


200 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


The principal point of difference is that, at 
Auction Bridge, in defending the game, there are 
two goals to strive for instead of only one — firstly, 
to prevent your opponents winning the game ; and 
secondly, to endeavour to defeat their declaration 
and to get them under their contract. Between 
these two there is no middle point worth thinking 
about. Your first object should always be to save 
the game, just as at ordinary Bridge ; but, when 
the saving of the game is assured, you ought to run 
any risk, or to play for any coup, however des- 
perate, which may enable you to defeat the call, if 
it comes off. 

In your laudable endeavour to get your oppo- 
nents under their contract, you should never 
bother your head about the possibility of losing an 
extra trick or two, provided that it does not entail 
losing the game. The value of each trick is the 
same as at ordinary Bridge ; but the figures of the 
rubber are so much higher, that the loss of an extra 
trick is comparatively of very little importance; and 
the fact of your having allowed your opponents to 
get to 1 8, or even to 24, when you could have left 
them at 12, need not worry you at all. A very 
large majority of games at Auction Bridge are won, 
or would have been won, from the score of love. 
The gradual piling up of the score, until you 
arrive within an easy distance of game, which we 
all know so well at Bridge, does not exist at 
Auction Bridge. 

I do not pretend to say that there is no advantage 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


201 


in being 24 up; but I do say, and I wish to 
emphasise it very strongly, that the advantage of 
being 24 up at Auction Bridge is out of all com- 
parison with the same position at ordinary Bridge, 
and that playing to the score is a very small factor 
in the game. The state of the score may, and 
often does, affect the declaration a great deal ; but 
it should never be allowed to affect the play of the 
hand as far as regards winning or losing an extra 
unimportant trick. There are the two definite 
objects to play for — saving the game, and defeating 
the call; no other consideration should ever be 
allowed to enter into the calculations of the 
opposition. 

I said, in a previous chapter, that it is not always 
desirable to give information to the table in general. 
This applies only to the bidding for the declaration, 
not to the play of the hand. The whole scheme of 
the declaration is diametrically opposed to ordinary 
Bridge, but the correct play of the cards by the 
defenders is precisely the same, and it is just as 
important to give your partner every possible infor- 
mation at Auction Bridge as it is at the other game. 
The same methods of play should be adopted, the 
same leads, the same conventions, the same dis- 
cards, and the same signals. Just as at ordinary 
Bridge, the more simple and straightforward you 
make the game, and the less fancy-work you put 
into it, the more easy it will be for your partner to 
understand you, and to work in his hand with yours 
to your mutual advantage. 


202 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


The first opening lead is always a blind one 
at ordinary Bridge, but it is not always so at 
Auction Bridge. The third player will often have 
been able to indicate his suit to his partner, and 
the opening lead is then no longer a blind one. 
It follows that the third player will frequently be 
able to win the first trick, and when he does so it 
is for him to determine how the defence of the hand 
can best be conducted. He should take his time 
about it, and should study the Dummy hand care- 
fully, and try to form some sort of estimate of the 
probable result of the hand. Let him first satisfy 
himself that the game is safe, and then see whether 
there is any likelihood of defeating the call. If 
there is — if he can see that one or two named cards 
in his partner’s hand will defeat the contract — he 
ought to go for that chance at once, and to play as 
if he knew that those named cards were there, 
regardless of the fact that he may lose an extra 
trick by so doing. 

If the dealer does not begin with a suit which 
his partner has declared, the third player should 
ask himself what reason he can have, and the 
reason ought not to be difficult to find. It will 
either be that he has none of the suit, or that he 
has a good suit of his own, or that the first lead 
was a singleton. 

When the declaration is a very high one, and the 
leader has doubled, it does not in the least follow 
that he wants his partner to lead him a trump; 
probably quite the reverse. If there is any chance 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 203 

of the Dummy hand getting a ruff, the third player 
should always lead a trump directly he gets in; but 
otherwise the trump lead early in the game is more 
likely to do harm than good. If the declarer does 
not lead trumps himself, he has some object in 
not leading them, and it is generally right for 
his opponents to do it for him ; but it is very 
important for a beginner to understand that 
doubling a high suit call at Auction Bridge is 
a very different matter from doubling a suit de- 
claration at ordinary Bridge, and that it does not 
convey the same request to a partner to lead a 
trump through the declaring hand. 

One and all of the general principles of defend- 
ing a hand at ordinary Bridge apply equally to 
Auction Bridge : the leading through strength and 
up to weakness; the holding up the command of 
a long suit in Dummy when he has no card of 
re-entry ; never finessing against one’s partner ; 
never leading a card which will enable the 
declarer to trump in one hand and discard from 
the other ; and, above all, never playing a false 
card. False cards are nearly always bad at Bridge; 
but they are still worse at Auction, and often do a 
terrible amount of harm. 

It is worth bearing in mind that “no trump” 
declarations are made a great deal more lightly at 
Auction Bridge than at the other game, and that 
there is not the smallest occasion to be frightened 
by them. The declaration of “ One No Trump ” 
is often made by the dealer or his partner as being 


204 


AUCTION BRIDGE UPrTO-DATE. 


the only means of escape from the compulsory 
black suit declaration, and it may be a very slender 
one indeed. At ordinary Bridge, even the most 
reckless players require to have some sort of justi- 
fication for a “ no trump ” call ; but at Auction 
Bridge the declaration is sometimes made on the 
most shadowy of pretexts, and it is a mistake for 
the defenders to argue that the declarer must hold 
certain high cards, or he would not have been justi- 
fied in calling “One No Trump.” He probably 
was not justified, but he did it as a dernier ressort, 
either to get out of a black suit declaration, or to 
bid his opponents up. 

Always remember that every fresh suit which 
you or your partner open is a distinct disadvantage 
to you, especially in a “no trump” game. How- 
ever high the declaration may have been, the 
declarer’s hand will not be entirely composed of 
winning cards. When he has made a very high 
suit declaration, he has certainly got a great many 
trumps, and can stand being forced to almost any 
extent ; but every time that you force him he has 
to open some other suit, and that is probably just 
what he does not want to do. 

When he is marked with winning cards in 
another suit, you cannot prevent his making them, 
if he has the entire command of trumps ; therefore 
you will do much better by putting him in again 
with his own suit than by opening another one up 
to him. His winning cards will eventually be 
exhausted, and then he will have to lead away, 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 205 

possibly from a guarded king, which he has been 
trusting to win a trick with, if that suit was opened 
for him. 

The great thing in defending a game is to realise 
exactly what you are playing for — how many tricks 
you require to save the game, and how many 
tricks are required to defeat the contract. These 
two points should never be lost sight of, and you 
should always keep yourself posted as to how the 
game is progressing, how many tricks you have 
got, how many you still require, and how many 
more you are likely to get. 

Any would-be Auction Bridge player, who is 
not thoroughly conversant with the rudiments of 
ordinary Bridge, will do well to buy himself a copy 
of “Bridge Abridged,” or of one of the many 
other Bridge manuals; and therein he will find, 
laid down for his guidance, a full table of all the 
accepted leads, and a more or less exhaustive 
treatise on the general principles of the play of 
the cards, together with certain hints to beginners, 
and a description of all the established conventions 
of the game. 

To those who have served their apprenticeship 
at ordinary Bridge, the only advice that can be 
given is to follow the lines of play of the older 
game as closely as possible, with the few exceptions 
which have been set forth above. 


206 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

MAXIMS IN BRIEF. 

The deal is a . disadvantage, rather than an 
advantage. 

Always try to win the first game. The winners 
of thf6 ( first game are in a fine position, as they can 
afford to lie low, and to nurse their opponents to 
any extent. 

When your opponents are far ahead— say, one 
game, and 16 or 18 up towards the next — do not 
play a waiting game, but try to equalise matters 
by winning the second game as soon as possible. 


The keynote of Auction Bridge is, that it fre- 
quently pays better to defeat your opponents’ call 
than to score yourself. 


Two-thirds of your profit at Auction Bridge, if 
any, will be derived from your opponents’ failures ; 
the remaining one-third from your own successes. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 207 

A rubber won in two hands will rarely exceed 
400 points ; but a rubber in which your opponents 
have been defeated several times, may amount to 
upwards of 10.00 points. 


You can only win the game once, but you can 
defeat your opponents’ call any number of times. 


Remember that your opponents can never win a 
game on your declaration. 


The loss, above the line, for failing in your 
contract is always the same. Losing one trick 
at “no trumps” costs no more than losing one 
trick in spades. 


Distinguish between a voluntary declaration and 
a forced declaration. There is a vast amount of 
difference between the two. / 


Auction Bridge is essentially a game of aces and 
kings, as against numerical strength. On a forced 
declaration, or for purposes of giving information 
to your partner, ace, king, and one other, is a better 
suit to declare than five to a knave. 


208 auction bridge up-to-date. 

One extra trick, won or lost, which affects neither 
game nor contract, is a very small matter, and not 
worth bothering about. 


The declarer’s first object should always be to 
fulfil his contract ; his second object, to win the 
game. 


The defenders’ first object should always be to 
save the game ; their second, to defeat the call. 


Against an original “no trump 

black suit is a better opening than a red one. 


declaration 


“No trumps” should be declared very much 
lighter than at ordinary Bridge, because the pos- 
sibly gain is so great ; while the possible loss is 
exactly the same as with a spade declaration. 


“No trumps” is the best declaration, for four 
reasons— 

i. Because it gives the greatest chance of winning, 
and only an equal chance of losing. 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


209 


2. Because Ihe player of the two hands has a much 

greater advantage at “no trumps” than with a 
suit declaration. 

3. Because -it prevents your opponents declaring 

“no trumps.” 

4. Because it shuts out black suit declarations 

altogether ; and it compels your opponents to 
declare two tricks in either red suit in order 
to overcall you. 


There are times when it is right to declare 
above the value of your hand, and there are times 
when it is right to declare below it. Experience 
alone will teach you when to push a hand, and 
when to hold your tongue. 


Doubling is an important factor in the game 
of Auction Bridge. The real object of the 
bidding is to force your opponents up to a point 
at which you can double them with advantage. 


It is hardly ever advisable to double a one- 
trick call. 


Never double when your opponents have the 
chance of switching to another, and safer, declara- 
tion. Rather be content with defeating their call 
undoubled. 


p 


210 


AUCTION BRIDGE UP-TO-DATE. 


The time to double to great advantage is when 
you can also double any higher call which your 
opponents are likely to make. 


Learn to distinguish between a dangerous 
double and a free double. A “ free ” double is 
when the declaration made is sufficient to win 
the game. 


To double a very high suit call, it is not 
necessary to have pronounced strength in the 
trump suit. A call of “ Three Hearts ” or “ Three 
Diamonds ” can well be doubled with one probable 
trick in trumps, and considerable strength in the 
other suits. 






















































































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